Tetsu no Kyoujin
by Dominion0080
Summary: Naruto finds something hidden under Konoha that reveals the truth behind the Kyuubi nad sets his own feet on the path to greatness
1. Chapter 1

Naruto crept down the hall carefully. It was a very old hallway, more like a cave really, in one of the oldest parts of Konoha. He'd been running from a couple of drunks when the ground had collapsed underneath him and dropped him into this place. It had been a better idea to see what was down here than to try and climb back up and risk facing the drunks, but the blonde was beginning to have trouble seeing. For some reason he had always seen better in the dark than others had, but he needed at least a little light to be able to see and the blackness was beginning to become absolute the further down he walked.

No one could ever have called Naruto a beacon of good sense, so despite his inability to see he continued onwards and downwards. He was rewarded eventually as he came into a section of hallway that had some kind of glowing moss on it. The blonde found a flat piece of rock and scraped some of the moss onto it so that he could see as he continued to explore. This was a lot more fun than trying to avoid all the drunks that would be looking for him after the festival.

Eventually, Naruto came to a cavern where the floor leveled out. The light from the moss reflected in several crystal formations and lit up the majority of the space enough for Naruto to see. The center of the cavern had been smooth away, whether by human hands or by nature the boy couldn't have said, but the low platform set dead center was not a natural formation. The blonde moved closer, curious about finding this place. He'd never heard about anything being here before Konoha had been founded sixty or so years before. At least, not that Iruka-sensei had ever mentioned.

The platform looked kind of like an alter he'd seen at Hokage-jiji's house the one time he remembered being there. The old man had said it was a place to honor the memories of the dead, but this one was much prettier than jiji's had been. The stone was a white that practically glowed with it's own light and there was a single, long, cloth-wrapped bundle laying on the alter. Naruto's natural curiosity overcame the warning that something inside him was shouting and he set his moss covered rock on the alter and reached out to remove the cloth from the bundle.

Inside was a sword. A plain katana with the hilt wrapped in black cloth. Nothing that seemed too terribly special, except for Naruto it was the first time that he'd ever gotten his hands on a sword of any kind before. A smile of glee grew on his face as he pulled the sheathed blade free of its wrappings, never noticing the paper fragments that had bits of seal writing on them flutter down and crumble to dust. The blonde pulled the blade free of the sheath, noting that for something that had obviously sat in this cave for a long time, the sword really was in great shape.

_**Who dares to draw me**_, voice boomed, making Naruto jump over a foot into the air. He looked around to try and find who had said that, but as far as the blonde could tell he was still alone in the cavern.

"Who was that," Naruto called out, really hoping that he wasn't going crazy.

_**I am the one who will ask the questions**_, the voice boomed again, the ground vibrating with the force of the voice. _**Who dares to draw me! **_

"Umm, my name's Uzumaki Naruto," he replied, turning in circles trying to figure out who was speaking to him when he realized what question was being asked. He looked dawn at the drawn katana in his hand and noticed that it was glowing with an inner light.

_**Why have you come here**_, the voice demanded. _**How did you find this place? How did you bypass the seals? **_

"I don't know," Naruto cried out in fear. I was running from the drunks like I always have to during the Kyuubi festival and the ground collapsed, leaving me in a tunnel. I followed it instead of having to worry about more drunks and then I found this place and I didn't know anything about seals, I just thought the sword looked really cool and I never got to use one before and…"

_**Silence**_, the voice commanded, making Naruto freeze in terror. _**You are a mere child, correct? **_

"I'm Uzumaki Naruto, future Hokage of Konohagakure and don't you forget it," Naruto snapped at the voice, some of his normal fire coming back to him. "I might be just an Academy student right now, but I will be Hokage someday and everyone in the village will have to respect me then!"

_**Hmm, you are an interesting child**_, the voice said. _**Sheath the blade and sit down. I wish to speak with you in person**_.

"What are you talking about," Naruto asked in confusion.

_**Do as I say, child**_, the voice thundered. Naruto hurriedly stuffed the sword back into the sheath and sat down on the floor, laying the blade across his lap. He felt his eyes growing heavy and the next thing he knew, he was standing in a sewer.

"Where the hell am I now," Naruto asked out loud. No answer came for several minutes, so the blonde scowled and began moving along the tunnels. He noticed that the pipes along the walls and ceiling were cracked and leaking in many places, which explained the standing water. After walking for a while, maybe an hour or so, Naruto heard a sound like a bellows pumping air and tried to follow it.

The hunt for the sound lead him into a large room with a set of vertical golden bars arranged in a gate. There was a piece of paper over the lock with all the funny squiggles that Naruto had learned to recognize as sealing script from the time he'd actually managed to get hold of an exploding tag from one of the ANBU that used to watch over him. The sound of air moving was coming from the darkness behind the bars and the blonde found himself drawn towards them. As he closed in, he thought he could just make out a pair of glowing eyes in the distance.

When Naruto reached the bars, he touched them and was surprised when they bit him with a mild electric shock like when he touched the cord on his lamp where the copper was showing. A flash of red caught the corner of his eye and the blonde barely managed to jump back in time for the giant red paw to miss and slam into the floor just outside the bars.

**Come back here**, a malevolent voice came from behind the bars as more of the form became visible. A large furred body and a maw bristling with teeth larger than Naruto himself gleamed behind the bars. There was movement further behind the creature as if a tail was moving. **I want to devour your pathetic soul and free myself from this prison**.

"Who…what are you," Naruto cried out as he continued to backpedal away from the fearsome creature.

**You truly are as dumb as you appear**, the monster snarled. **Even after all the times you are attacked, after knowing that your birthday falls upon the same day as the festival the pathetic villagers hold to celebrate my feet and seeing me here in all my majesty you do not recognize me? **

Naruto shook his head dumbly in response, causing the beast to roar again.

**Know this, fool,** the beast bellowed. **I am the great and powerful Kyuubi no Kitsune, lord of the bijuu. I was sealed inside your pathetic body by that blonde ape, but it shall not hold me forever. I will break free and the first one I shall devour will be you!**

Naruto was terrified, but like with the villagers he couldn't let himself cower in fear. "Shut up, you damned furball. I don't want you here, but I'll be damned if I let you eat me or anyone else for that matter. You say that you're trapped in me? Well, be ready to be trapped for a long time." Naruto crossed his arms over his chest and nodded for emphasis.

**You simplistic ape! I will destroy you**, the Kyuubi howled as he threw himself against the bars and bounced backwards.

_**My, how the mighty have fallen**_, another voice boomed through the sewer. A figure wearing heavy black armor stepped out of the tunnels and into the room. It was so tall and broad that it actually had to stoop to fit inside the room. _**So, Komamura, this is what you made of yourself after you sealed me away? You have become worse than a Hollow**_.

**So, the brat managed to find you**, the Kyuubi sneered. **A worthless weapon of a world that can never be returned to. I threw you away because you had become useless to me. You refused to help me gain the power that was available here!**

_**And rightly so,**_ the armored figure answered. _**You changed after we came here, as did the others of our party and those we chased. It is ironic to see you sealed away now that I have been freed. And bound behind a binding kidou of immense strength as well.**_

**Laugh all you want, tin can**, the Kyuubi mocked, **but I will free myself soon enough and you can no longer do anything about it. All of our ties were severed long ago and you have no power over me!**

_**While it is true that I have no power over you, like you have no power over me**_, the armored figure replied, _**there is one who can change all of that. Naruto.**_

"Eh, what about me," the blonde asked, confused about what the two behemoths had been talking about.

**Bah, the brat can do nothing**, the Kyuubi spat. **He's just as worthless as the other flesh bags that live in this world!**

_**Naruto**_, the armored figure said, bending down on one knee in front of the small boy. _**You said that you craved to earn the acceptance of your home, that you wished to prove to them that you are not what they think. I can help you with that. All I ask in return is that you help me in keeping him from ever breaking free into the world of man again. Will you agree?**_

"What will it take," the blonde asked warily. He'd learned a long time ago that no one gave anything away without a price.

_**You just have to accept me**_, the armored figure said simply. _**I will become your power and your strength. I will protect you and give you the power to crush your enemies. I will teach you how to use my power and your own until none can stand before you that would threaten what you hold dear**_.

**Heh, the brat will never amount to anything**, the Kyuubi scoffed. **He can't even draw on my power without being poisoned.**

"Shut up, fuzzball," Naruto yelled before turning back to the mass of black armor. "So, if I say yes, then the fox can never hurt jiji or Teuchi-ossan or Ayame-neechan?"

_**That is so**_, the armored figure replied. _**The seal that holds it back now is powerful, but will fail in time. It was designed to allow you to pull at his power, which will weaken the seal. By accepting my power, the seal will be reinforced and his power will be unable to escape. When you grow skilled enough, I will also teach you additional bindings that can be laid upon him and others like him.**_

"You mean, there's more out there like him," Naruto asked, shivering a little in fear.

_**Nine beings came here and became the forces you know as bijuu**_, the armored figure replied. _**Three fled and six pursued, but all fell prey to their base desires and became less than they were.**_

**I am not lessened**, the Kyuubi howled. **I'm more powerful than I ever was when I wielded you!**

Naruto looked up at the featureless helm of the giant and nodded hi agreement. "I'll do it," he said.

_**So mote it be**_, the armored figure cried out before everything faded away in a blue haze.

* * *

Naruto blinked as he stared up at the white ceiling of the hospital room. He recognized the crack in the ceiling and thought it looked a bit like a rabbit, but it was the room that jiji always put him in when he got hurt.

"So, finally awake, Naruto," came the familiar voice of the old Hokage.

"What…what happened, jiji," the blonde asked, suddenly aware of how dry his throat was.

"You were found in a pocket of air near a section of town where a sinkhole had formed," the old man replied, looking at the blonde in worry. "The doctor's say that you took no damage other than exhaustion, but I am relieved that you've woken up."

"So can I get out of here," Naruto asked, looking around nervously. "I never really liked the hospital."

"I don't think anyone who doesn't choose to work here ever really does," the Hokage laughed. "You can leave anytime now that you've woken up. How about you join me at Ichiraku's for a meal?"

"That's great, jiji," the blonde exclaimed, jumping from his bed.

"Ah, you may want to put on your clothes first," the Hokage suggested delicately to the youth, who blushed and dove for the closet. "I'll wait outside for you, my boy."

As the Hokage left the room and Naruto took his clothes from the closet to replace the hospital gown, he couldn't help but feel a large smile grow across his face. "Are you there," the blonde asked quietly

_**Of course**_, Naruto, the voice said. _**I told you that I would always be with you if you accepted me. It will take some time before I can manifest as a sword again, but you will need to train to handle me so it is not going to cause too many problems.**_

"Cool," the blonde whispered as he pulled his orange shorts and black T-shirt with an orange swirl on. It wasn't until he was putting his sandals on that the voice spoke again.

_**I do believe that we should get you some training clothes**_, it commented. _**You have assumed a role and you will need to look the part, but we can handle that in the days to come**_.

Naruto just smiled happily. A real smile, not the fake ones he often wore to fool the people around him, but one that brimmed with real happiness as he dashed out the door to join the Hokage on his way to one of his favorite places in the world: Ichiraku Ramen.


	2. Chapter 2

Naruto picked at the clothes in a little bit of distaste. He didn't really have anything against black, but the hakama and gi that he was wearing were and unrelieved black with a white gi underneath. The only bit of color was the orange sash he wore around his waist to tie the garment shut and to hold his sword once it formed again. The blonde vowed that he wouldn't wear these to the Academy, since everyone would probably make fun of him for wearing them.

_**They are the traditional garb of the shinigami, Naruto**_, the voice told him. _**The colors are actually quite flattering for your complexion, so you might attract even more attention than normal if you did wear them to the Academy.**_

The blonde scowled. "Maybe," he admitted, "but I should probably keep this as quiet as possible for now. Don't want the others to get too jealous of me, you know. Plus I don't want anyone to think the fuzzball's interfering with me."

_**While I would normally encourage you to shine out with your abilities as you grow**_, the voice conceded, _**it will probably be for the best to keep your training under wraps for now. Do you have a place where we can work undisturbed?**_

"Yeah, there's an old training ground over in the part of town where I found that sinkhole that no one ever uses," Naruto said after a moment of thought. "It's easy enough to get there from my apartment or the Academy and I don't think anyone other than jiji or the ANBU that sometimes watch me will ever notice."

_**Good, we need a place like that**_, the voice told him. _**We can start you physical training and I will tell you of my history and what you will learn. Go there and cut a tree branch. One about four feet long and at least an inch thick. We will start the exercises by building your arm strength to wield me as a sword when I reform.**_

"Right," Naruto, said with a smile as he took off running across town. It was weird, but ever since he'd agreed to the joining the blonde had felt lighter somehow. Like some kind of weight that had always been holding him down was suddenly gone and he'd found that he was moving much faster than before.

Reaching the training ground that was overgrown with weeds, Naruto searched among the deadfall for a branch that fit what he'd been told to find. It took nearly an hour before he had located one that was straight enough, thick enough and long enough to be serviceable.

_**Excellent**_, the voice told the boy. _**I want you to set your right foot forward and your left slightly behind it. Very good, now you will lift the branch above your head and bring it down to stop at your waist**_.

"How many times do I have to do it," Naruto asked.

_**As many as you can**_, the voce replied simply. _**Then you will rest and do it again. This is a necessary step to prepare your body for the stress of a real fight with a blade and for when you release my shikai.**_

"What's…ungh…a shikai," Naruto asked as he swung and had to fight to stop the blade from going all the way to the ground. _Looks like this will be harder than I thought_, the blonde mused as he continued the exercise.

_**I am what was referred to as a zanpaktou, or a soul slayer**_, the voice replied. _**We are born from the souls of certain individuals who have significant spiritual power and those people were trained to become shinigami, the guardians of the dead.**_

"I thought the shinigami was the guy who took you away when you died," Naruto huffed as he continued to train.

_**This world is different than the one I came from**_, the zanpaktou said. _**There shinigami protected the pure souls from those who would devour others to gain their power and become beasts called Hollows. To answer your first question, a zanpaktou has three states: Sealed, Shikai and Bankai. The sealed state is the basic sword form. You have little access to my power at that state, but it allows you to learn many things before concentrating on reaching Shikai, or the first release. The shikai unlocks a significant portion of my power and will change my physical appearance as a weapon. The Bankai is the ultimate release of my power and by far the most difficult to master. Very few shinigami ever achieve it.**_

"Wow, so you become scarier with every released form," Naruto asked.

_**Indeed I do**_, the voice replied. _** And you will become much stronger as well. This world is very different from the world I knew in many ways, but chief among them is your chakra.**_

"That's the stuff Iruka-sensei's been talking about in class lately," Naruto said as his brow furrowed in though while his arms continued to swing the branch. "He said that we have to combine our physical and spiritual energy to make chakra so that we can use jutsu and stuff."

_**That is true for a normal human in your world, but not for you anymore**_, the zanpaktou informed the blonde. _**They need to use their physical energy to even access their spiritual energy or reiatsu, but you can now access your reiatsu without needing the extra step. Your physical energy can be saved to allow your body to heal itself faster and to make sure you grow at an appropriate rate.**_

"So does that mean I won't be able to learn jutsu like everyone else," Naruto asked with a pout.

_**No, it just means that you will have an easier time performing them and will be able to do so without those silly seals the humans require after some practice, **_the voice answered_**. Though I suggest you continue to use the seals so that no one suspects the extent of your ability. I will also train you in the various arts of the shinigami once your body is prepared. Zanjutsu, hoho, shuho and kidou will all be useful to you.**_

"Well, if you're a zanpaktou, then zanjutsu is how to fight with you, Naruto reasoned as he panted a little from his continued exertion. "So what are those other ones?"

_**Hoho is the taijutsu that shinigami train in for situations where a zanpaktou is unwise or a target merely needs to be disabled. Shuho is the movement arts, a manner of channeling your reiatsu into your body to produce extra speed and strength. Kidou are what was known as the demonic arts…**_

"Hey, I don't want anything to do with demons," Naruto protested.

_**Rest assured**_, the voice said with an irritated sigh, _**that I would never allow you to taint yourself with anything truly demonic. Kidou is merely another set of jutsu for you to learn and there are easily over a hundred with a variety of purposes from attack to restraint. Having an extensive selection of options to complete a single goal is always a favorable situation. Now, as for your training…**_

* * *

Naruto let the large branch drop, his body dripping with sweat. He'd been working for months on the physical conditioning and was proud to say that he'd seen lots of improvement. He was now practicing his swings with a branch that was six inches across and almost six feet long. The voice had told him that he couldn't say for sure exactly how he would appear to the boy, since Naruto's power was different than Komamura's had been. The only release that he could guarantee would be the same was the bankai, since it was an ultimate release of the zanpaktou. The shikai and sealed form could be different depending on whether or not Naruto's power caused the zanpaktou to grow.

The swings hadn't been the only exercise that the blonde had undergone. There had been two other types of swings to practice: slashing down from the left and slashing down from the right. He'd performed all of those so many times that he no longer had to even think about the effort it took to stop the branch before it reached his waist. He'd also been doing an extended series of stretches and lots of running over the last few months, moving at full speed fro as long as possible. The zanpaktou had told him that while there were ways of enhancing strength and speed, it was better to have a solid base to work from.

_**You've done well, Naruto**_, the voice said. _**I think you may be ready to try and materialize my sealed form. I want you to sit down and concentrate on the power you feel coming from inside of yourself. Imagine the energy condensing into the form of a sword with all of your thought. I warn you that this is not an easy task and there are many shinigami who take years to form their zanpaktous even in their sealed states.**_

"Right," Naruto said with a nod as he sank to the ground in the lotus position. It had gotten a lot easier to sense the energy inside him ever since he'd bonded with the blade. Iruka-sensei had been shocked when he'd produced a visible aura in class the other day, but the blonde had laughed it off as natural talent when asked how he did it. Naruto bent his mind to the energy within him and let it flow between his hands where they rested upon his knees. He closed his eyes and let himself imagine the power taking the shape of a sword. The blonde didn't know how long he sat there, but by the time he felt a solid weight across his lap, the sun was long gone.

_**Congratulations**_, the voice said. _**You manifested me on your first try. I thought it would take two or three attempts, but you've proven your ability to concentrate. Heh, I bet your teacher would have a heart attack seeing you sit so still for so long without being tied down.**_

Naruto chuckled at the image and opened his eyes to examine the blade sitting across his lap. It looked like an ordinary katana to the boy's eyes, but where the original blade had the hilt wrapped in black this one had orange bindings. _Cool_, he thought enthusiastically.

_**Only you would find orange to be cool**_, the voice stated humorously. _**Most consider it too distracting and eye-catching a color for a serious warrior, but I guess it will work for us.**_

"Wait a minute," Naruto said suddenly. "I didn't say anything out loud…"

_**Now that you have manifested my physical form, you no longer need to speak out loud to be heard by me**_, the voice informed the blonde. _**Our bond has become strong enough to allow us mental communication. Besides, if you walk around talking to someone that no one can see, people will think you're crazy.**_

"I don't know," Naruto grinned. "There's one jounin I've seen walking around with his nose buried in porn and another wearing green spandex. I think I'll fit in fine, even if I am talking to someone no one else can see."

_**You have a point**_, the voice allowed, _**but it is time for you to begin learning what I have to teach you. I need you to follow my instructions exactly. You need to fashion a rough humanoid figure out of branches and rope. There's a seal that I will help you create that will allow me to possess the puppet and train you directly.**_

"Awesome," Naruto yelled as he leapt to his feet and stuck his sword through the orange sash he wore around his waist. He darted off into the woods surrounding the training area, gathering as many branches as he could and piling them in the clearing he'd cleaned up over the last couple of months. It took him about an hour to lash the vines and rope he had handy around the branches until he'd made a passable figure that had the right number of limbs.

_**Now comes the tough part**_, the voice said. _**You'll need to draw this seal in blood and you have to be careful to draw it exactly correct. I will give you and image that I suggest you draw in the dirt first so that you can work off something other than just your memory**_.

"Hey," Naruto complained, "I'm not that bad! Just because I don't like studying for Iruka-sensei's tests doesn't mean that I'm stupid or anything."

_**No**_, the voice agreed. _**It just means that you're overly energetic and easily bored as well as being too young to really concentrate as hard as your teachers would like. Now here's the seal**_.

Naruto blinked as a complicated design flashed in front of his eyes, but he dutifully scratched it into the dirt before cutting his hand and beginning to trace the design across the chest of the dummy he'd created. When it was done, the blonde stepped back and eyed his handiwork.

_**Not bad,**_ the voice admitted. _**You seem to have a natural talent for the sealing arts. When you have mastered your basics, perhaps we will explore that. Now watch.**_

Naruto felt a little of his energy leave him as the dummy began to glow. The light quickly became intense, forcing him to cover his eyes until it died back down to bearable levels. When he could see again, the dummy had been replaced by a six foot figure in heavy black armor.

"Cool," Naruto crowed as he stared at the armored figure. "But how did you get outside of me?"

_**I'm not really outside of you**_, the figure sighed. _**I'm just projecting a portion of my power to the seal you prepared on the dummy so that I can interact with you on a physical basis. There is no one else that I trust to train you. Remember that you must now keep my sealed form with you at all times to maintain our bond. Do not allow them to try and take me from you, since I will punish any other who dares to lay their hands on me. Now, shall we begin the next stage of your training?**_

Naruto gulped as he looked up at the armored figure that towered over him. It wasn't as big as it had been in his mind when he'd seen the Kyuubi, but it was still huge to the short boy. He gripped the handle of his katana and gulped before nodding his head. "Let's get wild," the blonde said.


	3. Chapter 3

Naruto sagged against one of the trees for less than a second before he was rolling away from a sword that slashed through the trunk. He'd grown a lot over the last couple of years and was now standing head and shoulders over his classmates. His zanpaktou had said that his slow growth had been an effect of the Kyuubi being sealed inside him. Now that the influence of the fox had been negated, his body was working to make up for lost time. The blonde brought up his sword to parry the blow that the armored form of his zanpaktou rained down. He grunted a little from the force of the blow, but was proud that he had given no ground despite the shocking strength that he'd countered.

_**It's time for a break**_, the armored figure said as it backed away from the exhausted blonde. _**You have done well, although I'm surprised you having been able to hear my name after four years of working together.**_

"It's not my fault you're always mumbling whenever you say it," Naruto grumbled as he slumped to the ground.

_**I never mumble**_, the zanpaktou said indignantly. _**If you cannot hear it, then you are not ready to hear it. I just have to be proud than your zanjutsu and hoho are at acceptable levels for your experience. Shunpo seems to come naturally to you, which amazes me considering your nearly abysmal failure at using kidou.**_

"Hey, I can't remember all of those complicated chants," Naruto complained. "Shunpo was easy to learn and it's lots of fun. You should have seen the look on that ANBU's face when I literally disappeared from right in front of him."

The armored figure sighed at this and Naruto stuck out his tongue. The blonde had continued to prank the village despite constant complaining from the zanpaktou that it was beneath his dignity to commit such acts. The blonde thought it was all an act, though, since he could swear he'd heard the spirit laugh after he'd doused the military police with a chemical that attracted a horde of skunks wanting to mate with them.

_**Your genin exam is approaching again, is it not**_, the figure asked, turning the featureless helmet to face the blonde.

"Yeah," Naruto sighed. "Are you going to let me pass this time? Most of my classmates are scheduled to graduate this year and I'd at least like to know who I'm going to have to work on a team with. Even if I can't stand the Uchiha."

_**Your intolerance of him in understandable considering his attitude**_, the zanpaktou said, _**but you should prepare yourself in case you required to work with him on a mission. And yes, I believe that it is time you graduated. Your skills have grown to a level where only real combat with different opponents will help you learn more. There are still rough edges to be smoothed away, but those are just a matter of practice.**_

"Yes! I finally get to become a genin," Naruto exclaimed, his exhaustion now completely gone as he jumped to his feet and danced around the clearing. "I'll get to show up Sasuke-teme on the exams and then Sakura-chan will finally like me…"

_**I wouldn't count on that**_, the armored figure warned. _**The girl is an odd one and I seem to get an echo from her chakra that reminds me of the presence of a zanpaktou and yet different at the same time. Besides, isn't she obsessed with your self-declared rival?**_

"Nah, she's just following the herd," Naruto said, waving off the implication. "Once she sees what I'm capable of, she'll dump the broody bastard and be my girlfriend!"

_**While I admire your enthusiasm**_, the zanpaktou said, _**you should concentrate on the exam. Your ninjutsu is still difficult for you to perform, especially the bunshin no jutsu.**_

Naruto crunched up his face in a scowl as he answered, "That's because it's so much harder to use. Kidou doesn't care how much power you put into a spell, but if you overdo it just a little on something like the bunshin no jutsu, it comes out looking dead! Besides, the handseals are a pain. Even if I have trouble remembering the paternoster for the kidou sometimes, it's still better than trying to remember all those seal sequences."

_**Well, the ninjutsu is a requirement**_, the armored figure scolded before the form blurred and became the wooden dummy again. _**If you cannot do it, then you will not graduate and that would not be a good thing for your position in the village.**_

"Thanks," Naruto groaned as he moved to the center of the clearing and began to practice his handseals

* * *

When Naruto had first started at the Academy, it had been a haven of sorts. A place where despite how the villagers seemed to treat him, that they would have to accept him as a student. This notion was quickly and rudely disabused by several of the teachers, although to be fair Iruka-sensei had always treated him well. After he'd found the zanpaktou and begun training in the evenings and through most of the night, Naruto had started to realize that his classes were going to be pretty much useless. So he started napping in class, when he wasn't escaping and playing pranks. Shikamaru seemed to regard him as a kindred spirit and had helped him pick out the material that he would need to keep passing grades on the written tests, so that they could both catch up on their sleep. While Naruto's exhaustion pulled him into the slumber, it was a natural lazy instinct that had Shikamaru dozing off through most of his classes.

Since today was the genin exam, the other classes were given a week's break while the current graduating class would take their exam and be assigned to teams. No use in having all the other kids underfoot if you didn't have to. Naruto showed up and perched himself in the upper corner seat of the classroom, with his back against the wall. He snorted at Sasuke, who was sitting in the second row by the windows and reflected that the boy's hair looked suspiciously like a duck's but from the rear like this. His zanpaktou had taught him to keep his back to a solid surface and to pick a place that allowed you to observe the area without danger to yourself. Obviously he wasn't the only one who thought this, because two other students occupied his row: the Aburame boy and that strange Hyuuga girl.

When Sakura entered the room, Naruto felt his heart begin to race. She was someone that he had desperately liked for years now, ever since he'd seen her being bullied by some of the older kids over the size of her forehead. Unfortunately all of his attempts to become her friend had been rebuffed, first by her parents and then by the rabid crush she'd developed over the last Uchiha. It was enough to make the blonde want to murder the other boy, although he trusted in his zanpaktou to help him calm down enough to keep from murdering the arrogant asshole. Sakura was followed in by Ino and the two began bickering over who would get to sit next to Sasuke. The whole scene was enough to make him fell sick.

That's when Iruka came in and got everything started. The usual tests went by easily: taijutsu, thrown weapon accuracy, basic knowledge, stealth and evasion. Naruto did decently enough, but his lack of skill with thrown weapons and his mediocre written score made the ninjutsu portion the deciding factor. It was a great relief to him that the bunshin no jutsu was not the exam final this year. Instead they had to perform the kawarimi no jutsu while the teachers threw shuriken at them. Naruto gave a broad grin and even though Mizuki-sensei threw twice as many shuriken at him as he did at the others, the blonde walked away with a hitai-ate in his hand and a warm feeling in his heart.

"This calls for a celebration," the blonde declared loudly as he headed off into the town. "Ichiraku ramen, here I come!" Naruto could hear the noodles sizzling in their hot broth already as he ran through the streets.

"Oh, Naruto," Teuchi said as the blonde plopped down on one of the stools at the ramen stands. "So how did the exams go?"

"See for yourself," Naruto grinned as he held out the hitai-ate for the ramen chef to see.

"Congratulations are in order then," Teuchi said with an answering grin. "How about a bowl on the house as a reward?"

"That'd be great," Naruto replied enthusiastically. He practically bounced in his seat as he waited for the food. He didn't get to come here as much anymore, since his zanpaktou was insisting that he eat more healthy foods on a regular basis.

"So any idea who you'll be on a team with," Ayame asked as she finished serving one of the other customers.

"Nah, they won't tell us until tomorrow," Naruto replied, practically drooling as Teuchi set the large bowl of ramen in front of him. "As long as it's not Sasuke-teme, everything will be okay."

"Hmm, I expected you to say something about being on Sakura's team," Ayame teased, before noting the crestfallen look on the boy's face.

"She doesn't want anything to do with me," the boy said sadly. "Every time I try and be friends with me, she just insults me and compares me to Sasuke. I think I'll always like her, but maybe she'll be happier if I just leave her alone…"

"It's not like you to give up, Naruto," Teuchi said.

"I know and I don't really want to," the blonde replied, "but passing the genin exam means that I'm an adult now and I have to act more responsible. So I thought that if I let her have her space, maybe she'll miss me and come to talk or something."

"That's surprisingly mature of you, Naruto," Ayame said proudly with a faked sniff. "Oh, our little Naruto-kun is all grown up now."

"That's not funny, Ayame-neechan," the blonde pouted before digging into his noodles. He didn't want them to get cold after all.

* * *

It was late in the evening when Naruto found himself back at his training area, staring down at the bundle of sticks that once again took the armored form of his zanpaktou. He'd eaten a hearty celebratory dinner at Ichiraku's of six bowls of ramen, bemoaning the fact that he couldn't eat as much as he used to before heading back out here to train a little. Truth be told, he just wanted to work off a little of the nervous energy that was building up as he worried about what team he'd be placed with.

_**Do you hear that**_, the armored figure asked as it cocked its helm at an odd angle. _**It sounds like a battle of some sort.**_

"Either someone else's training really late, or something's wrong," Naruto frowned before disappearing with his shunpo. The armor faded from the dummy as he left, but there remained a charged air about the place. A sort of expectancy that something special would happen tonight.

Naruto could move a large distance with a single step, thanks to his shunpo, and found himself near a dilapidated old shack that sat in the woods. The scent of blood was strong in the air and the blonde could see a crumpled body of someone his age laying nearby. Upon closer inspection, it was revealed to be one of his classmates. One who didn't pass the genin exam if the blonde remembered correctly. He had been disemboweled and left to die not long ago and the sound of steel meeting could be heard fairly close by.

"Why are you doing this, Mizuki," a familiar voice called out as Naruto crept through the underbrush. Shunpo was great for covering distance and general speed, but it was not stealthy. At least Naruto didn't have the skill yet to make it stealthy and he did not expect to need to be creeping through the woods to where his two Academy instructors were fighting.

"I should think the answer's obvious, Iruka," the other chuunin sneered. "They all seem to know about what I did and they've blocked me from ever becoming stronger, so I've decided to take my services elsewhere; somewhere they'll be appreciated. The Scroll of Seals should be a nice bargaining chip as well. Getting that brat to steal it for me was almost too easy. He was so upset about not making genin that he bought my story about an alternate test without batting an eye. Too bad it wasn't Uzumaki. I would have liked a chance to take the demon brat out myself before I left."

"Don't talk about them that way," Iruka growled. Naruto moved closer and could see that the scarred chuunin was holding his side and blood was leaking out. "Aoino was a good student and he might have graduated given another year and Uzumaki is not the demon."

"Faugh, how can you say that," Mizuki spat. "We all know the demon was sealed into him and the village would have killed him if that old fool Sarutobi hadn't interfered. Hell, if I killed him, they'd see me as the hero."

"He's not the demon," Iruka bit out. "It took me a while to understand it myself, but Naruto is a courageous young genin of Konoha and he's had to deal with more trials than any of us."

"That's enough, Iruka," the silver haired chuunin said sadly. "I think it's time I got going, which means that it's time for you to die." Mizuki swung the giant shuriken he held in his hand and let it fly at the wounded chuunin.

"I don't think so," Naruto said loudly as he caught the shuriken against his zanpaktou and let it fall to the ground. He stepped out into the moonlight and took a deep breath. Iruka had been a teacher he respected for dealing with him as a child and not a demon, but the man's words had built himself a special place in the boy's heart.

"Interesting look, demon brat," Mizuki snarled as he pulled a second giant shuriken off his back. Naruto blinked as he realized that he was wearing his training outfit and not his usual orange. His shinigami uniform, as his zanpaktou liked to refer to it. "It's still not going to stop me from killing you. But you really should know the truth first. Do you know why the villagers hate you and many have tried to kill you? It's because you're the Kyuubi no Kitsune that nearly destroyed the village twelve years ago!"

"Don't listen to him, Naruto," Iruka called weakly from where he lay in a growing pool of blood. "You're not the demon…"

"I know," Naruto said calmly as he held his zanpaktou steadily in front of him. "I found out about the demon being there years ago. It's sealed away, though, so it can never hurt anyone again. Now, Mizuki-sensei, I believe that you have something that doesn't belong to you and I'm sure jiji would like to have it returned."

"Try it if you think you ca…urk," Mizuki started, but was cut off as the blonde moved through him with shunpo, slicing him nearly in half.

"Well, that was disappointingly easy," Naruto commented as he took the large scroll from the dead man and turned back to Iruka, whose color didn't look very good. "Ne, Iruka-sensei, we should get you to the hospital. You don't look very good."

"Thank you for stopping him," Iruka said through a groan of pain as the blonde lifted the larger man in his arms. "Though I wouldn't have blamed you for believing him. About being the demon, anyways, after how the village has treated you."

"Trust me, Iruka-sensei," Naruto grinned, "I know more about the fox than anyone in the village and I know how fear can make people stupid. My goal is to get them to see the real me."

Iruka didn't reply as he'd passed out from blood loss, but the blonde felt a lot better having said this and used shunpo to get to the hospital before his teacher lost too much more blood.

* * *

_**That was a noble deed**_, the zanpaktou said after the blonde had dropped his teacher off at the hospital.

"I couldn't just let Mizuki kill him," Naruto shrugged. "Iruka-sensei has always treated me decently and I'd hate to lose someone who actually looks at me like I'm human. Besides, the old man would be pissed if the scroll got taken out of the village."

_**I notice that you haven't looked through it**_, the voice observed. _**Aren't you interested in the powerful techniques that are sure to be contained within?**_

"A little," Naruto admitted. "If I was still like I was before I found you or that bastard Sasuke, I would have been all over it. I've learned to be patient since I started working with you. It's not always easy, but it's worked out better for my strength to grow a little at a time rather than trying to take a huge jump ahead."

_**You have grown much wiser**_, the zanpaktou said in an amused tone. _**Remember that you will always have Tenken to call upon to support you**_.

Naruto walked along to the Hokage tower when he stopped and realized what he had just heard. "Your name is Tenken," he whispered before whooping in joy and cackling like a madman. "One more step on the path to strength down!"

"Are you all right, Naruto," the Hokage's voice called out, interrupting the blonde's impromptu celebration. Naruto turned sheepishly to see the Sandaime standing on the street, looking at him with an amused expression.

"Ah, yeah, jiji, I'm fine," Naruto replied nervously. "I was just coming to see you and return the scroll that Mizuki stole."

"Yes, I heard from ANBU that you'd gotten involved in the situation," the old man replied as he puffed on his pipe. He signaled for the blonde to follow him as he entered the Hokage tower and climbed the steps to his office. "They were impressed with the way you handled yourself and one or two had been wondering who had been teaching you to use a sword."

"It's just something I've been working on," Naruto replied with a half truth. "It's not an actual style or anything, since I don't have a sensei for it, right?"

"It impressed one of the ANBU observers," the Sandaime replied as he entered his office and sat down at his desk, "and he's a renowned sword specialist. He also mentioned that you seemed to use an unusual maneuver that moved at very high speed. A speed that he could barely track despite being and experienced ninja who has fought a wide variety of opponents in his time. Is there something you should be telling me, Naruto?"

Naruto felt sweat rolling down the back of his neck as the Hokage's steely gaze pinned him in place. _I don't want to lie to jiji_, he thought furiously, but should I tell him about what I found all those years ago? Would he understand or would he think it's just the demon?

_**Calm down, Naruto**_, Tenken said in an exasperated tone. _**The Hokage is more than capable of holding any secret we would tell him unless it endangered the village. He also undoubtedly knows about Kyuubi being sealed inside of you and it has never colored his affection for you, has it?**_

Yeah, you're right, Naruto thought in relief as he cleared his throat. "Well, " he started, "do you remember when I fell down that sinkhole all those years ago and you had to dig me out?"

"Indeed," the Hokage replied, blinking slightly at the apparent nonsequitor. "It took several hours to remove enough of the rubble and retrieve you from the cave where you lay unconscious."

"Well, I kind of found out a few things that night," Naruto admitted sheepishly, scratching the back of his head uncomfortably. "That was when I found out about the Kyuubi being sealed inside of me."

"And exactly who told you about this, Naruto," the Hokage asked, his voice hard but not unkind. "If someone in the village told you about this, then they broke an important law that I set in place to try and protect you."

"Well, I'll get to that," Naruto said, raising a hand to forestall the old man's objection. "You see, like most festival nights, I was running from the drunks when I got caught in the sinkhole. Being trapped, I decided to explore and found myself in a series of really old caverns that are older than anything in the village."

"Hmm, I do remember the Shodaime commenting on some ancient ruins having to be removed when they were building the village," the Sandaime mused.

"So I followed them for a while and I found this really big cavern with these neat crystal formations and in the center was an altar," Naruto continued. "On top of the alter was a bundle of cloth. Well, given that I've always been more curious than smart, I opened the bundle up and took out the sword that I found inside. I didn't notice the seals on the cloth, since most of them turned to dust as soon as I touched the cloth."

"Let me guess," the Sandaime said with an amused smile, "that the sword in the bundle is the one you're wearing now."

"Sort of," Naruto hedged. "You see, when I picked up the sword there was a voice suddenly talking in my head and the next thing I knew I was in a sewer. I followed a bunch of noises and found the fox in his cage behind the seal and then the voice showed up."

"So the voice you heard wasn't Kyuubi's," the Sandaime asked.

"No, it was Tenken's and he showed up as this giant guy in really cool armor," Naruto replied. "He said that he knew Kyuubi and this is where it gets really complicated. Tenken said that the bijuu aren't from our world, but they're not really demons either. The way he explained it, six people came chasing three criminals and got stuck here. They found out that this place was corrupting them even the good guys, so they sealed a part of themselves away to protect them or in some cases to protect themselves. You see, the swords have a identity of their own, but their a part of the person's soul and to seal them away meant losing that portion of their soul and power. That made them become corrupt even faster and then you just had the bijuu."

"Fascinating," Sarutobi said, enthralled by the story. "I would be tempted not to believe, Naruto, but this actually fits into some of the facts that we do have about the bijuu. People have spent lifetimes researching what fragmentary records remain of the time before their rampage."

"Well, Tenken said that he used to be part of the Kyuubi," Naruto said with a grin at the old man, "and the fox was not happy to see him. Apparently since I had part of Kyuubi's soul from having his chakra in my coils, Tenken could join with me the way he used to be with Kyuubi. The fox was really pissed cause Tenken being there completely suppresses the fox's attempts to break the seal. I haven't heard anything out of the bastard since and Tenken's been training me in the way of fighting that belonged to what he called shinigami."

"Shinigami," Sarutobi asked sharply, his gaze intense on the blonde. "Are you sure he said shinigami?"

"Yeah," Naruto replied, a little worried by the old man's reaction. "He said they were people who protected the spirits of the dead and killed the monsters that fed on them."

The Sandaime relaxed a bit. "I'm sorry to have startled you, Naruto," he said, "but the seal that locked away the Kyuubi was done via a contract with Shinigami-sama."

"I can understand why that freaked you out them," Naruto replied, "nut I think that's they were a completely different thing from Shinigami-sama. Tenken said that they were basically ordinary men and women with a lot of power, kind of like in a ninja village."

"Thank you for sharing this with me, Naruto," the Sandaime said as he leaned back in his chair. "I admit that I was concerned by your skills and more importantly, by your change in wardrobe. I never thought I would ever see you in anything other than orange."

"This is what I'm going to wear as my work clothes, jiji," Naruto scowled. "I can still wear my favorite colors when I'm not on duty, but Tenken made sense when he said that orange isn't the best color for the battlefield, no matter how awesome it is. Besides, black will hide blood better."

"That's a rather bleak point of view," the Hokage said sadly.

"I'm going to be a ninja, jiji," the blonde replied nonchalantly, "I don't have any illusions about what I'll have to do. I just hope that I never have to kill people who don't deserve it."

I thin we all hope that, Naruto," the old man replied. "Now, set the scroll here and go get some sleep. You'll be getting your team assignment tomorrow and you'll want to be rested."

"Right," the blonde said as he used shunpo to disappear from the room, leaving a shocked Hokage behind him.

"Things really are going to get interesting," the old man mused as he looked at the listings of team assignments in front of him.


	4. Chapter 4

The Hokage sat at his desk and looked at the list of Academy graduates in front of him and the suggested arrangement of teams that they be sorted into. _How predictable_, the old man thought. _Every year they build the same types of teams over and over and the failure rate stays high. I think it's time to change things up._

The old man grabbed a fresh sheet of paper and began to write out a new listing of the teams and their sensei, smirking as he realized how upset some people would be at the changes involved. _Let them rant and rave_, the old man though vindictively. _I am the Hokage and I am the one who makes the decisions about the ninja under my command._

* * *

Naruto waited patiently at his desk, drawing a few stares from his classmates at his choice of wardrobe. He'd decided that although he loved his orange jumpsuit dearly, he would wear his shinigami outfit for missions. He'd already had his identification photo taken and the cameraman had been pleased that the blonde had decided not to pull a prank like wearing kabuki makeup of something equally as silly given his reputation. He'd even met the grandson of the Hokage and shown him a special henge that he'd developed much to the disgust of the adults in town and Tenken: the Oiroke no jutsu. It may have seemed like a simple transformation into a naked girl, but it was a hybrid technique of kidou and genjutsu that actually changed a person's true physical appearance for a short time. _Let's see if Konohamaru can figure that one out on his own_, Naruto chuckled.

Ino and Sakura entered the room and immediately began fighting over the right of sitting next to the Uchiha, which soured the blonde's good mood immediately. He knew that the people of Konoha loved the Uchiha like he was their savior on high and wondered what it was going to take to wake them up to the fact that Sasuke was too unstable to ever make a good ninja. _Too much of his motivation is fueled by a lust for power and revenge_, Naruto thought as he remembered what he'd overheard about the Uchiha massacre.

_**Indeed**_, Tenken added. _**That one's soul is as dark as any Hollow's that I have ever encountered. He is consumed by his hate and anger and this will lead him to betray those around him, given the right prompting.**_

The door to the classroom slid open again and Iruka walked in, moving slowly so as not to aggravate his healing injuries. The hospital had made sure that Iruka was fully healed to report on the evening's events to the Hokage, but even they could only force the body to repair itself so fast. The scarred chuunin placed his papers on the desk and sat down with a grateful sigh. "Today, we'll be assigning the teams and jounin-sensei," he said as he shuffled through his papers. "First will be Team Seven consisting of Uchiha Sasuke, Haruno Sakura and Inuzuka Kiba. The jounin-sensei will be Hatake Kakashi." Sakura jumped to her feet at that and began crowing her victory over Ino. Naruto couldn't help but sigh in relief that he wouldn't be stuck with them, but did feel kind of bad for Kiba.

"Ahem," Iruka coughed, causing Sakura to turn red and sink back into her seat in embarrassment. "Team Eight will be Hyuuga Hinata, Aburame Shino and Akimichi Chouji. Your jounin-sensei will be Yuuhi Kurenai. Team Ten will be Nara Shikamaru, Yamanaka Ino and Uzumaki Naruto. Your jounin-sensei will be Sarutobi Asuma. Your new sensei should be arriving soon to pick you up…" A knock on the door caused Iruka to pause as it slid open and two figures walked in. One was a very attractive woman in her early twenties dressed in an odd outfit that looked to be made of trips of white and red cloth wrapped around her body. The other was a tall, solidly built man with a beard and a cigarette hanging from his lip, dressed in the traditional ninja blues and flack vest.

"Ah, Yuuhi-san, Sarutobi-san," Iruka said with a nod to the two. "Your teams have just been announced and they should be ready to go."

"Thank you, Umino-kun," Kurenai said in a throaty voice. "If Team Eight could join me…" Hinata, Shino and Chouji climbed out of their seats and joined their new sensei at the front before following her out of the room. Chouji gave Shikamaru a sad look as he left, but Naruto felt this would be good for the boy. _Neither Hinata or Shino judge Chouji by his weight, _Naruto thought, _so that will be good for him despite splitting him and his friend up. It will also force him to be more aggressive and take the initiative since Hinata's as shy as a mouse and Shino prefers to just let things happen._

"Team Ten, you're with me," Asuma called out. Ino and Shikamaru rose to their feet and joined Naruto as he stood and followed the jounin out of the room. He stooped outside and turned to them. "I thought we could have a nice lunch and get to know each other. There's a nice barbeque restaurant that I like nearby, so how does that sound?"

"Whatever," Shikamaru said lazily.

"As long as I can keep to my diet," Ino said primly.

"Sounds fine," Naruto replied. "But if you keep dieting, you're going to wind up being useless, Ino."

"Are you saying that you want me to get fat," the other blonde asked in a dangerous tone of voice.

"I'm saying that any kunoichi worth calling that gets enough exercise to maintain a decent figure without resorting to silly diets," Naruto replied coolly as he turned to walk outside the building. "I have never seen a heavy kunoichi that wasn't an Akimichi and they have a genetic reason for that extra weight."

"Hmm, he's right you know," Asuma offered. "You need a healthy and balanced diet to perform at your optimum level and to grow. As a kunoichi, you've got to work harder than the boys to build up your physical stamina and chakra reserve."

"But I have my family techniques," Ino protested weakly as she tried to find a hole in the logic presented. "They don't use much chakra and besides, I have to look good for Sasuke-kun."

"Suit yourself if you want to become a one-trick pony," Naruto shrugged. "Your family's arts are usually used in conjunction with the Nara shadow binding arts because they're difficult to use on anyone who's actually moving. I know your father's a jounin. You should ask him if knows other jutsu beyond the family ones. Besides, you've tried for two years to win the Uchiha with the pretty and soft girl tactic and as far as I can tell, it hasn't worked. Maybe a different approach is called for?"

Ino's mouth opened and closed as Shikamaru sighed and shook his head. "Let's just go eat," the lazy boy suggested. "This is all too troublesome to think about on an empty stomach."

"What I said applies to you as well, Shikamaru," Naruto said as he turned his gimlet stare on the Nara boy, who stiffened at the reproach. "Conserving your energy for important things is all well and good, but your chakra reserves are the lowest of all the guys in our class because you don't want to make the effort to do the stamina building exercises. In a serious fight, you'll last as long as Ino and I doubt I will be able to protect myself much less the two of you without sustaining serious injury."

"That's a very interesting analysis, Naruto," Asuma observed as he led them off the Academy grounds and down the street. "How did you come to it?"

"The distribution of the teams," the blonde shrugged. "There's one heavy fighter on each of the teams to balance an information type and a strategic type. I'm our obvious choice as the heavy fighter given my physical abilities and weapon skills. Shikamaru is the strategic component while Ino is left with informational gathering, which is appropriate to her family's psychic jutsus."

"How the hell do you know so much about my family's abilities," Ino snapped, finally breaking out of the shocked state she'd been in.

"Because your father had to help me when I was very young," Naruto said blandly. I was exposed to a very powerful genjutsu that left me in a virtual coma for nearly a month. Inoichi-san had to mindwalk me in order to help me break free."

"Why were you caught in the jutsu," Shikamaru asked intently. "It's rare for high powered genjutsu to be used around people outside of a battle ground. In training, aren't genjutsu specialists given access to secure training areas exactly so that innocents can't get caught in their illusions?"

"Yes," the blonde answered without further explanation as the entered the restraint. Asuma was greeted with a friendly smile, but Naruto drew harsh glares from several of the customers. Once they were shown to a corner booth, Naruto removed his sword from his back and rested it next to him on the seat.

"Well," Asuma coughed politely after giving their order. "We should get to know each other a little better. All I know about you is from your Academy files and what I've heard in passing. I'll start, since you have no way of knowing me. My name is Sarutobi Asuma. I like shogi, relaxing and training. I dislike those who turn on their comrades, pushy women and cauliflower. My dreams are to see my nephew become a decent ninja and start my own family someday. You're up next Shikamaru."

"I like shogi, go, Chouji and watching the cloud," the lazy boy drawled. "I dislike work, annoying people and people who pick on others. My dream for the future is to find a nice wife who won't nag too much."

"Right," Asuma coughed. "Ino, you're up."

"I like flower arrangement, gardening and Sasuke-kun," Ino said proudly. "I dislike know-it-alls, forehead girl and perverts. My dream is to become a famous kunoichi and marry Sasuke-kun!"

"I guess that leaves me, eh," Naruto said, shaking his head sadly. "I like training, my precious people and ramen. I hate people who hate others without good reason, stuck up assholes and perverts. My dream is to become stronger than the Hokage so I can protect my precious people."

"Well, all of that was very interesting," Asuma said thoughtfully, as he laid the meat on the little hibachi built into the table. "Normally a jounin-sensei gives his students a test to determine whether or not they'll be able to work together when things are stacked against them, but I don't think that's going to be necessary."

"I won't lie to you," he continued. "This team was originally set to have Chouji on it to try and repeat the teamwork that your parents had, Shikamaru, Ino. Hokage-sama changed the teams around at the last minute and hasn't seen fit to give any explanations. While I'm sure the both of you are missing Chouji, we have to build a solid base of teamwork among the three of you. Each of you fills a specific element in the team, as Naruto explained earlier, and you need to trust each other in that regards. We'll be working on that in team training and during the missions we take. Now, we'll meet in front of Hokage Tower tomorrow at eight to collect our first mission."

* * *

Ino closed the door to her room behind her and plopped herself down onto her bed. She was horribly confused by everything that had happened today. Being on a team with Shikamaru and Chouji had been such an inevitability that she'd never really thought they'd place her anywhere else, despite her desire to be with Sasuke. Having Chouji shuffled out and replaced with Naruto had been a bit of a surprise, but she'd thought little of it since the blonde was the class clown and tended to sleep through class like Shikamaru did. Seeing him today made Ino wonder if she'd ever really known the other boy. He'd looked very imposing in his black outfit, so different than his usual loud orange, and his analysis of her and Shikamaru's abilities was as cold as it was accurate.

A knock at the door distracted her as it opened to reveal her father. He came in and sat down on the bed next to her. "So, how'd your first team meeting go," Inoichi asked.

"Weird," Ino replied, staring up at the ceiling. "Did you know they didn't put Chouji with me and Shikamaru?"

"I talked to Chouza earlier this morning," Inoichi replied. "He said that Chouji had been placed with the Hyuuga girl and the Aburame boy. We were both surprised, since we all expected the three of you to be put on a team together like we were. So who did you get teamed with?"

"Well, they left me and Shikamaru together and put Naruto in Chouji's place," Ino answered with a glance at her father's face. His face went blank at the mention of the boy's name and Ino knew there was something wrong there. "He said that he knew you from when he was little."

Inoichi sighed and he suddenly looked a lot older to Ino. "That was a bad situation all around. I can't really tell you much of it since it's been classified as an S-Rank secret, but he was caught in the backlash of a really nasty genjutsu and wasn't able to find his way out of it. I was called in to break him out of it. I've kept an eye on him since and I think they've put someone who'll be good for you on your team."

"What," Ino protested. "How could that color blind idiot be good for me."

"Princess, I love you," her father said, "but you've never taken being a ninja seriously. Oh, you've learned a few things, but you're going to be dealing with real danger sooner or later and I really don't think you're ready for that. Naruto's seen a lot in his life and I have enough faith in his ability to dig the lot of you out of trouble."

"He said something like that today," Ino frowned. "He was pretty clear that he thought I didn't take being a kunoichi seriously and he lumped me in with Shikamaru as people who weren't ready to be shinobi. HE told me to ask if you had techniques other than our family jutsu that you used regularly."

"Of course I do," Inoichi replied, surprised. "No ninja can afford to be a one trick pony. I wouldn't say I have the jutsu repertoire that someone like Sharingan no Kakashi has, but I do have a decent variety and so does Shikaku. Chouza has a couple of jutsu, but he's more of a taijutsu specialist than anything. I'd be happy to teach you some of the lower rank jutsu I know, but you're going to have to build your stamina and chakra reserve before you can handle them."

"So, what you're saying is that I'm hopelessly useless," Ino sighed.

"Not at all," her father protested. "Most new genin aren't really very advanced. The ones that are usually will be the heavy combat types. Their skills are almost purely physical in nature and don't require nearly as much training up as a ninjutsu or genjutsu specialist. You can become strong too, but it's going to take a lot of dedication and hard work."

"Well, I'm not going to let anyone put me down like that," Ino said as she sat up, fire lighting in her eyes. "I'm going to show him that I can be just as strong!"

Inoichi just smiled at his daughter. Sad that she was beginning to grow up, but glad that she was ready to take her training seriously. This new dedication might be what kept her alive long enough to learn what she really needed to know.

* * *

Shikamaru lay on the roof outside the window of his room and stared up at the clouds as they drifted by lazily. Today had been incredibly troublesome. He had expected that he would be placed on a team with Ino and Chouji to take advantage of the way their family's abilities synergized. When Chouji had been replaced by Naruto, the lazy boy had been stunned. That shock had continued to when the blonde had given an analysis of his and Ino's abilities; one that sadly the Nara boy had not been able to dispute.

Ino did have serious problems as a kunoichi since her only goal had been to win Sasuke before one of the other girls did. Naruto's cold dismissal of her abilities had been a sharp slap to the face, one which the girl had badly needed.. Shikamaru had known the prissy blonde all of his life and this was not going to sit well with her. She was going to do her damnedest to make Naruto eat his words or die trying.

While the easygoing boy had long since let words of criticism flow off his back, the way Naruto had described his deficiencies mad him pause to think. While his Kagemane no jutsu was a very useful and versatile technique, it was merely the tip of the iceberg as far as the Nara family jutsu were concerned. Few of his family had ever bothered to delve too deeply into the family scrolls, but Shikamaru had been curious what was there, so he'd dragged them out of storage and even went through the effort of recopying the scrolls since they'd begun to decay with age.

The scrolls had a variety of techniques that would be useful for a ninja, but all of them beyond the basics were very chakra intensive. That was what had prevented most of the Nara clan from ever learning to use the jutsu, since laziness was pretty much an inherited trait. _Maybe it's time to put some of it to work_, the lazy boy thought as he absently gazed at the clouds. _I've been able to coast this long, but now that we're going to go on missions things are going to change_.

"Shikamaru! Get down here and take the trash out," A shrill female voice shouted. The boy winced at the sound of his mother's voice and wondered, not for the first time, why his father had married such a troublesome woman.

* * *

"So, you're saying that I'm ready to use your Shikai, now that I know you name," Naruto asked the black armored form of Tenken, who was once again inhabiting the training dummy's physical shell.

_**Yes**_, Tenken replied. _**The form will be a bit different for you than it was for Komamura, so I can't say what it will look like**_…

"All right," the blonde exclaimed excitedly. "Let's see, I just focus my power and call out, Todoroke Tenken!" Energy swirled around the boy as the blade of his sword lengthened and thickened until it was a literal slab of metal. Armor formed on Naruto's chest and forearms, matching the type that Tenken wore on the same places.

_**Definitely different**_, Tenken judged. _**Komamura created a phantom arm with a sword that appeared whenever he sung his blade. Your version is more like pulling myself around you in a more physical form and I must admit that I'm rather surprised that the blade turned into a zanbattou. Now I'm glad that I had you do those strength building exercises. The blade will not be any heavier, but you'll need the extra strength to change the momentum a blade like that will pick up when you swing it**_.

"This is so cool," Naruto said as he examined the armor and new blade. "This blade fights differently doesn't it?"

_**Yes**_, Tenken answered. _**A larger blade requires more fighting room. I would advise against using the Shikai in a confined space**_.

"So that's going to mean more training to use it effectively," Naruto sighed.

_**Indeed, however that can wait,**_ Tenken said. _**I wish to discuss your current teammates**_.

Naruto winced before reluctantly replying, "I was kind of hard on them, wasn't I? I didn't want to be cruel, but they both needed the kick in the pants if they're ever going to become anything more than weak genin. I had you to kick me anytime I backslid, but I don't think anyone ever came out and told them so bluntly what they were doing wrong."

_**While I can see your logic**_, Tenken admitted, _**remember that you are dealing with people and people are ruled by emotion. They may hold your words against you the way many villagers still hold the fox against you, so be prepared. You will still be required to work with them for the next few years and you will need to be able to cooperate on missions. Contemplate how best to reconcile with them if necessary. In the meantime, defend yourself**_!


	5. Chapter 5

Naruto looked over at his slumped over teammates with a satisfied smile. Shikamaru and Ino had shown up for their first day of team training with a determined attitude and a strong desire to improve their abilities. He'd been a bit surprised when Asuma had asked him to lead the team in the stamina and strength building exercises, but had shrugged and complied. They'd fallen into a pattern over the last six weeks of training, doing a D-Rank, breaking for lunch, another D-Rank and then more training until everyone was too tired to continue.

Shikamaru usually crawled off home fairly early in the evening, claiming that he didn't want his mother getting on his back over missing a dinner. Ino, on the other hand, stayed until she passed out from exhaustion. At that point, Asuma would carry her home while Naruto spent the rest of the evening training to perfect his use of Kidou. He hadn't shown any of his ability to his teammates yet, but was looking forward to the day when he'd get to show them off in battle.

_**Don't be too eager, Naruto**_, Tenken said. _**Using your abilities in battle may be dangerous for your teammates. They're used to how normal ninja fight and you are anything but a normal ninja anymore**_.

"I know that," the blonde said in exasperation, "but I really want to show everyone what I can do. Iruka-sensei was the only one to really see me in action, so everyone still thinks I'm the screw up that I sued to be."

_**Still, you should ask Asuma to allow you a battle simulation first**_, Tenken advised. _**Either against autonomous puppets or against another team. You need to learn how to cover your teammates when they're vulnerable and they need to learn when they have to cover you. Like when you release your shikai**_.

"Yeah, I guess someone could hit me then and that would suck," Naruto said thoughtfully. "If I have to use a kidou that I haven't mastered, they'll have to cover me too. Those chants are pretty long."

_**That may be, but they're still better than using jutsu that will backfire on you do to your chakra problems**_, Tenken replied.

"That's your fault," Naruto complained. "Ever since we locked away the fox and you gave me direct access to my reiatsu, my chakra has barely been stable enough to do basic Academy jutsu. That means that I'm stuck with kidou until we figure out how to stabilize the chakra. Don't get me wrong, kidou is pretty cool, since it's got more versatility than normal jutsu do, but I don't need to attract any more of the wrong sort of attention than I have to."

"Talking to yourself, Naruto," Asuma's voice boomed out from the darkness of the evening. "That's not a very good sign for a shinobi. Usually when one starts talking to himself, they're either a Haruno or headed for the shrinks."

"I'm not crazy," Naruto grunted. "I was just talking with Tenken."

"Hmm, while I know weapon specialists have a close bond with their weapon of choice," Asuma said thoughtfully, "I don't think I've ever heard them talk to them as if they could answer back."

"Well, Tenken can." Naruto replied, sticking his tongue out. "So what brought you back here? You usually go home for the night after dropping Ino off."

"Let's just say that I need to get to know you," Asuma said, lighting a fresh cigarette and leaning back against a tree. "The other two are pretty easy to read, but you like to keep everything close to the chest, don't you?"

"Well, a good ninja isn't supposed to be easy to read," Naruto frowned. "That's what jiji always told me. So why's it such a big deal?"

"I'm the one responsible for the safety of all three of you," Asuma replied. "That means that I need to know what makes you tick, how to motivate you and what to teach you. I can usually rely on the Academy records for a pretty thorough grounding on a fresh genin, but everything about you is different than what your file says."

"Well," Naruto said slowly, "there's lots of people at the Academy who made sure that I didn't do well there. When I did finally start to improve, I didn't see a reason for them to know how much better I was getting…"

"After all, a shinobi's life is about deception," Asuma finished for the blonde. "While that is true, it is also a tenet of Konoha's shinobi force that we work as a team. As your Team leader, I need to know what you're capable of and so do Shikamaru and Ino."

"And who else will you tell," Naruto asked, biting his lip in concern.

"Only those who have a need to know," Asuma replied. "Your teammates and the Hokage are most likely the only ones that fit the bill. We can work everything else out on a need to know basis if you're that worried."

"I've got good reason to be worried," Naruto sighed. "If people knew the truth, they'd either be more frightened of me than they are now, or feel relaxed at the loss of a threat. You see, it all begins and ends with the Kyuubi. He wasn't always a giant ravening monster. At one time he was a leader of something like the military police from a far away place and he and some others were chasing down some criminals. That search brought the three criminals and the six officers here, where they began to change. Do you understand what I'm telling you?"

"You're saying that these nine people became the bijuu," Asuma asked, his cigarette barely clinging to his lip in shock.

"Yep," Naruto replied. "But before they became the bijuu, they had to give up the power they had before they came here. Each of the officers had a sword. A special sword made from a piece of their soul that fought for and with them. The Kyuubi was a man named Komamura and Tenken was his zanpaktou. He sealed it away in a cavern deep underneath what's now Konoha and left to gain the power of a bijuu.

"Years ago, I was chased into a bad part of town and got caught in a cave that collapsed on me. I kept going deeper and deeper until I found the place where Tenken was sealed. That's when he first started talking to me. He said that since I've got the fuzzball in my stomach, that makes me close enough to fuse the piece of the soul that creates the zanpaktou to me. It was pretty cool and Tenken added another layer of seal over the fox so that he can't influence me in any way. The only way his chakra can get into my system is the little bit the Yondaime's seal siphons off and converts into chakra for me."

"This is a rather tall tale, Naruto," Asuma said hesitantly.

"That's why I've never tried to explain it before," the blonde shrugged. "Jiji and Iruka-sensei were just happy to see me buckle down and work, so they never asked who was training me. How do you think they'd have reacted to me telling them it was a talking sword?"

"Pretty badly," Asuma replied with a chuckle. "Especially since we monitor all shinobi for signs of instability. At least, we have since Uchiha Itachi went crazy and slaughtered all of his family."

"Ouch," Naruto winced. "I guess that's part of the reason why Sasuke's such an amazing asshole then. It makes me feel bad for Kiba."

"Assuming I accept your story at face value," Asuma said, "where does that leave us?"

"Well, I'm pretty good with my sword in its sealed state and I'm learning how to use the shikai better," Naruto replied. "My chakra's all messed up because of the double seal, but Tenken lets me access my spiritual energy to use a set of techniques called Kidou that are kind of like jutsu, but not. That leaves me my physical stamina for fighting, although I tend to use my spiritual energy for this really cool speed technique called shunpo. I haven't mastered it yet, but I will. The only regular jutsu that I know are the henge and kawarimi. The bunshin still gives me a lot of problems…"

"Whoa, slow down, Naruto," Asuma called out, interrupting the excited blonde. Naruto pouted, since was the first real chance he'd ever had to brag about his skills to someone. "Let's cover these one at a time. First off, you said you'd learned to use your sword in its sealed state and said something about a shikai…"

"Yeah," Naruto said as he drew Tenken and rested it on his palms. "The katana is a zanpaktou's base or sealed form. Most of it's power is waiting to be released as the spirit of the blade and the spirit of the wielder grow more comfortable with each other. There's two other levels: Shikai and Bankai. It takes a lot of work to reach Shikai; heck, I only learned how to release it when I fought Mizuki. Bankai is much harder, since it's supposed to be the ultimate expression of the zanpaktou's power."

"So the shikai is so different that you have to learn a new way of using it," Asuma asked, raw curiosity evident in his voice.

"It's easier to show you," Naruto said as he held the blade straight out and called, "Todorke, Tenken!" A swirling wind of reiatsu and debris moved around the blonde revealing a different looking Naruto when it settled. The blonde was wearing black plates of armor reminiscent of a samurai's across his chest and forearms and the katana had grown over a foot in length and six inches in width.

"Damn, but that's a big blade," Asuma swore as he stared at Tenken's shikai. "As big as the zanbatous the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist use. Doesn't that weigh a ton with all the armor?"

"Nah," Naruto replied. "I can't even feel the difference in weight. Probably because it's all made of spiritual energy. Anyways this version of Tenken has to be used differently, so we've started working on that. It's really fun to use when I add it to shunpo like this." Naruto's form blurred and the next thing Asuma saw was the blonde standing on the other side of the training posts as half of one slowly slid to the ground.

"Naruto," Asuma said aghast, "I couldn't track your movements…"

"Yeah, shunpo's pretty cool," Naruto grinned. "Tenken said that the shinobi speed techniques have nothing on it. Anyways, the last thing we've been working on is kidou, but I'm too tired to do those right now. They're like jutsu, but don't have all the complicated seals. They have this long chant you have to use at first, but once you master it you can just use the name. I've only mastered two so far and those were really hard."

"I think we need to have a combat evaluation soon," Asuma grumbled, shaking his head.

"Tenken's been saying that too," Naruto offered. "He said we need to learn when we need to back each other up. Besides, I kind of want to see how much better Ino and Shikamaru have gotten."

"I'll see what I can set up," Asuma promised. "Just remember to give me a demonstration of the Kidou of yours before you use it in combat."

"Yes sir!" Naruto snapped a mock salute at the jounin, eliciting a laugh from the bearded man.

* * *

Ino scowled at the world as she stomped into the training ground to meet her team. Shikamaru flinched at the fierceness of her expression, while Naruto and Asuma traded amused glances.

"Oi, what's wrong," Naruto asked, hoping to smooth things over and get their training underway.

"I ran into Forehead girl on the way over here," Ino seethed, "and she said that her team had just been assigned a C-Rank escort mission!"

"That's a bit early for them, isn't it, Asuma-sensei," Shikamaru asked with a frown on his face. "They've probably done about the same number of D-Ranks we have, but would they really be ready for a mission outside the village this quickly?"

"It's possible," Asuma admitted grudgingly, "but I doubt it. Kakashi isn't one to rush into things like that. He's seen the result of green teams biting off more than they can chew before, so it must have been one of his team that petitioned the Hokage for the mission…"

"It was probably Sasuke," Naruto said in an irritated sigh. "I would guess Kiba, but he's not dumb enough to endanger his whole team for his own sake, while Sasuke is."

"You don't get to insult, Sasuke-kun," Ino snarled at the blonde, who just shrugged.

"Face the facts, Ino," Naruto said calmly. "No matter how much you like him, Sasuke's still a self-centered asshole. All he wants is power and he doesn't think he needs anyone's help. The villagers spoiled him rotten after his family was killed by sucking up to him like they did and it may get his teammates hurt or killed. Kiba at least has a pack oriented mentality and he would know that there's no way Sakura would be ready for a mission of that level. She was in worse physical shape than you were when we started our team's training."

Ino opened and closed her mouth like a fish out of water and reddened as she tried to decide whether to be insulted or complimented by Naruto's words. Finally she decided to take them the best way possible, since she had to work with the other blonde after all and said, "Why do you think you know Sasuke-kun so well? I've been chasing him for years."

"You've been chasing a perfect idea you built up in your head of what Sasuke is like," Naruto shot back in irritation. "For some reason, the majority of girls our age seem incapable of noticing how much of an antisocial asshole he is. They all make excuses for him that fit into their various fantasies and ignore anything that doesn't fit. In all the years you girls have been after him, has he ever gone on a date with any of you? Has he even talked to you for longer than it took for him to tell you to go away?"

Ino tried to refute his words, but ultimately wound up sniffing in anger and turning away from the blonde as he and Shikamaru sighed in frustration. Asuma cleared his throat to break the uncomfortable stalemate. "Ahem, we do have a full day of work ahead of us. I've arranged for a joint training session with another genin team…"

"Well, we know it's not Team Seven," Shikamaru said, "so that must mean you hit Kurenai-sensei up to bring her team over."

"Actually, no," Asuma said, "she felt her team wasn't ready for a full combat spar just yet . That's why I prevailed upon a team of genin that graduated last year that form a reconnaissance and assault team…"

"Yosh, Asuma-kun, your team truly burns with the flames of youth," a loud voice called out as a man leapt into the clearing. It took several seconds for Naruto to actually believe what he was seeing, as the man in question was wearing a green spandex bodysuit with dark orange legwarmers and that was only the beginning of the oddities. His hair had been trimmed in a bowl cut and his eyebrows looked like they could come to life at any moment and crawl off of his face. "They will be fit companions of the road of youthful power for my youthful students."

Three others walked out of the woods, a girl and two boys. One of the boys was plainly a Hyuuga by his eyes and looked around with a bored expression that reminded Naruto of Sasuke. The girl waved at Team Ten and had an embarrassed smile over what her teacher was saying. She had her hair up in balls on top of her head to keep it out of the way and carried more than the usual number of kunai and shuriken. The final member of the team made Naruto's hair stand on end as he was almost a complete clone of the older man, from the jumpsuit to the terrifying eyebrows.

"Now, Gai, remember," Asuma warmed. "Your team is much more experienced than mine so they need to take it easy. I just need a combat evaluation to gauge how much their skills have grown since their training began…"

"Fear not, Asuma-kun," Gai said, smiling broadly enough that a gleam of light appeared on one of his teeth. He stuck his thumb up and continued, "You have my word that we shall push your students to the very edge of what they are capable of and no farther."

Naruto suddenly had a sinking feeling about the whole exercise.


	6. Chapter 6

"All right, Shikamaru, how do you think we should take them," Naruto asked the lazy genin.

"Why are you asking me," the other boy asked in surprise.

"Because you're the strategist, idiot," Ino snapped, rolling her eyes in obvious irritation.

"Well, let's see," Shikamaru replied, his brow furrowing in though as he crouched down and observed the trio of older genin who were standing on the other side of the clearing from their team while their jounin-sensei talked. "These guys are obviously an assault type team, which means that we're overmatched in terms of raw physical power. The green monster over there is obviously a taijutsu specialist by his build and so is the Hyuuga, since they're never anything else. The girl looks to be a weapons and seal specialist. She's the weak link offensively, since if we can get someone in close we'll negate her advantage. The other two are tough…"

"Just hurry up, will you," Ino hissed. "Asuma-sensei looks like he's tired of listening to the creepy jounin and will get this started soon."

"All right," Shikamaru snapped back. "Ino, you make for the girl and use your Shintenshin no jutsu on the green guy while I distract him. Naruto, head for the Hyuuga, but go after the girl when Ino switches. I'll move to the Hyuuga when Ino attacks the green guy."

"All right, you three," Asuma called out. "Gai-san here has agreed that his students won't go all out on you, but they'll still try to push you. That's Hyuuga Neji over there, the girl's name is Tenten and the mini-Gai is named Rock Lee. Let's go ahead and get this going. Begin!"

Ino moved at a full run towards Tenten, weaving through the shuriken the girl started throwing with a speed that was surprising for a recent Academy graduate. Naruto headed for the Hyuuga and Shikamaru ran towards Rock Lee. Asuma shook his head in disbelief, trying to figure out why they were going after the worst opponents they could. He held back a sigh of relief, though, when Shikamaru threw several kunai with explosive tags to force Rock Lee to one side as Ino turned and flashed her hands through the seals for her Shintenshin no jutsu. Naruto had moved at the Hyuuga from an angle and startled everyone when he disappeared between steps and reappeared in front of Tenten. He swung his sword down and forced the girl to leap back to avoid the blow, giving up any chance of interfering with Ino's assault on Rock Lee.

As the green spandex wearing genin suddenly went still as he was hit by Ino's jutsu, Shikamaru formed the seal fro his Kagemane no jutsu and sent tendrils of shadow running at the Hyuuga. Ino's body crumpled to the ground and Rock Lee's body language suddenly shifted to that of a girl as he picked at his green bodysuit in disgust, while the Hyuuga leapt back from Shikamaru's shadow tendrils. The white eyed genin's facial veins bulged, showing that he was already using the Byakugan his clan was famous for. Shikamaru just smirked, took a deep breath and sank into his shadows. While the Hyuuga was looking around trying to spot where his opponent had gone, the possessed Lee ran at him intending to grab him in a bear hug.

Tenten had given up trying to gain range from Naruto and had pulled a sectioned staff from one of her sealing scrolls. She was giving Naruto quite a run for his money even though she couldn't keep up with the speed his shunpo allowed. Out of the corner of his eye, Naruto noticed that the Hyuuga had done something to knock Rock Lee out as Ino was groggily regaining consciousness. What he didn't notice until too late was the pool of darkness expanding from his own shadow as Shikamaru reached up and grabbed the older genin's ankle. Shadow raced up along the leg before Neji could pull away and remained even after he leapt away from where Shikamaru now stood again. He almost fell to the ground when he tried to put his weight on the still shadow-wrapped limb, glaring at his opponent angrily.

Naruto ducked a blow from Tenten's staff and used shunpo to get to a distance behind Neji, his hands forming a seal as he muttered a quiet chant and called out, "Fuuindo Number 4: Hainawa!" Ropes of blue energy snaked out of the ground and wrapped themselves around the startled Hyuuga, who struggled uselessly as the restraint kidou bound him helplessly to the ground. Tenten realized that she was the only one left standing and unleashed a volley of kunai at Shikamaru and Naruto, trying to force them away from her restrained teammate as she moved to close. Unfortunately for her, Naruto intercepted her with a heavy swing of his sword that she was forced to use her staff again to block. Instead of disengaging for another blow, Naruto instead chose to lock his blade down on the girl's weapon.

Shikamaru took the opportunity to sneak his shadow into Tenten's and freeze her in place. He made her put down the weapon she carried and mimed motions to have her take off her sealing scrolls and weapons pouches while Naruto restrained her with wire. They turned to see both of the jounin-sensei staring at them with looks of disbelief on their faces at how quickly the fight had gone.

"Well, that was a surprise," Asuma coughed into his hand as he tried to regain your composure. "I wasn't expecting the three of you to stand up too well against an assault type team, much less defeat one so handily."

"Indeed, the power of my kawaii genins' youth should have fared much better," Gai shouted as he gazed at the members of his team and Team Ten.

"It only worked out because they underestimated us," Shikamaru said as he used a seal to release the shadow holding Tenten still and Neji's leg limp. Naruto twisted his hand and released Tenten from the wire he'd wrapped her in and made a hand seal of his own to dissipate the bindings that held Neji to the ground. "They were expecting us to have no real skill and no real teamwork, like most of the new teams, Asuma-sensei."

"Plus we took advantage of their specialization," Ino added as she got to her feet and went over to check on the still unconscious Lee. "Their specialties were pretty easy to figure out and at this level, that's a big mistake."

"How did you move like that," Neji demanded of Naruto once he was free and able to stand again. "You simply disappeared between steps and reappeared in front of Tenten…"

"Oh, come on," Naruto said exasperated. "You don't really expect me to just give up my techniques just like that, did you?"

"You come from no recognized clan," Neji stated condescendingly, "therefore any techniques you might know are fair game for any shinobi that can learn them. Only clan techniques are protected by the Konoha shinobi charter."

"That may be," Naruto said mockingly, "but it doesn't say that I have to give them up to anyone either. Besides you wouldn't be able to learn how to use them anyway."

"What do you mean by that," Neji demanded, his face flushing slightly. In the background, Tenten had managed to wake up Rock Lee by tossing a bucket of water on him. The genin sputtered for a minute before realizing what had happened.

"I see we were defeated by an example of most youthful teamwork and cleverness," Lee announced, rising to his feet in a sudden motion. He pumped his fist in the air and fires seemed to ignite in his eyes. "We must strive to become a stronger team as well, or I shall do one thousand handstand pushups. If I cannot do that then I will carry a ten ton boulder for fifty laps around Konoha…"

"Lee, shut up," Tenten yelled in exasperation. Naruto began to feel a lot of sympathy for the girl if she had to put up with the green youth freak, his mini clone and the uptight Hyuuga on a daily basis. "They beat us fair and square. They're right when they said we underestimated them, which could have gotten all three of us killed if we were on a mission right now. I think that's why Gai-sensei agreed to this training exercise."

"Indeed you have caught my intention most youthfully, Tenten," Gai said loudly giving the girl a thumbs up and a smile that showed his large gleaming teeth. "Asuma-kun wanted to test his Team's combat skills, but I needed to show you that individual skills are not as important as working together as a team."

"That's right," Asuma interjected. "Shikamaru and Ino are still below where I'd like them to be in terms of chakra and physical strength, but they make up for that with their clan abilities and willingness to work together with Naruto. It's always been a truth in the shinobi world that a team of three genin can take out even the strongest jounin if they work together well."

"So does that mean you'll let us take a C-Rank mission soon," Ino asked eagerly.

"Not until we get and you and Shikamaru up to where you should have been at graduation," Asuma scowled. "You both still need to build your stamina and diversify your skills a little before I'll consider it. Shikamaru used up almost all of his chakra to trap Neji like that. Imagine if the fight had gone on for much longer. Just because Kakashi's team took one doesn't mean that you're ready for it yet."

"So, my eternal rival has taken his rookie team out on a C-Rank already," Gai mused loudly. "Yosh! In that case we must undertake one of our own. Come, Lee, Tenten, Neji. We must go to the mission office and request a new mission!"

The two green-clad shinobi blurred as they ran out of the training ground, followed by Neji who just scowled at Team Ten in passing. Tenten looked after her departing teammates with a sigh and turned back to the other three genin. "Thanks for the spar," she said graciously, turning to address Naruto. "You should come and find me sometime. There aren't many genin who go for the weapon arts anymore and it would be really nice to spar with you again sometime." She smiled at the blonde and left to follow her team to the Hokage Tower.

"Ooh, looks like Naruto has an admirer," Ino teased as he blushed.

"It's not like that," Naruto protested. "She said she just wants to spar…"

"Oh sure," Ino said with a suggestive wink, "she just said that she wants to be alone with you and get all hot and sweaty…" The blonde girl just laughed as Naruto tried to sputter out a response.

"This is troublesome," Shikamaru sighed as he sat down against a tree to try and rest long enough to regain some of his chakra. Asuma just watched his genin with a smile. These three were turning out much better together than he'd ever expected.

* * *

"I can't believe that jerk thought I would just hand my techniques to him on a silver platter," Naruto seethed as he sat in the empty clearing while the stars twinkled above him. After the spar, Asuma had the other two work on their physical stamina again, telling Naruto to chase them-without using shunpo-and smack them with a willow switch if they slowed down.

_**Many powerful clans breed arrogant attitudes**_, Tenken offered, trying to relieve Naruto's frustration. _**It doesn't really matter to him that he could never learn how to use your techniques since his bodies conditioning to build chakra would interfere with drawing the reiatsu necessary from his spirit.**_

"Yeah, well, I just don't like jerks like that," Naruto scowled. "That Lee kid was okay, although there was something weird about him that I can't pinpoint. He's different from just about every other ninja I've ever met."

_**That's because he probably can't use chakra**_, Tenken answered.

"Is that possible for a shinobi," Naruto asked in surprise. "He wouldn't be able to pass the ninjutsu portion of the exams if he can't use chakra."

_**It is a slim possibility that they may have let him pass as a taijutsu specialist**_, Tenken offered. _**But he had no chakra moving through his body, so I would guess it a congenital defect rather than an injury. He has plenty of stamina and a decent spiritual strength as well. I would hazard that he might benefit from some of the shinigami fighting techniques if he could be taught to harness his spiritual energy with bonding to a zanpaktou.**_

"But neither of us knows how to do that," Naruto pointed out. "All you told me was how you let me access my reiatsu. If I didn't have you, then I'd be using chakra like the rest of them."

_**True**_, Tenken sighed. _**It would be interesting to see what he would be capable of, but you're correct. Without some means of awakening his spiritual potential, there's nothing that could come out of the training. It almost makes me wish that this world had Hollows after all.**_

"You've mentioned those before," Naruto asked. "What are Hollows and why were you so surprised that there aren't any here."

_**Hollows are souls of the dead who have been consumed by an earthly desire of some sort**_, Tenken explained. _**Many spirits linger on after their death for one reason or another and one of a shinigami's duties was to perform konso, or a soul burial on any pluses or positive spirits we found. Spirits who linger too long or become obsessed with something will slowly have the fragment of their chain of fate dissolve. This chain connected the spirit and body in life and comes from a hole in the chest. If the chain dissolves completely, then a plus will become a Hollow; feeding on the spirits in the world around them and trying to grow stronger**_.

_**Hollows have their own plane of existence called Hueco Mundo, where they prey upon each other to grow stronger and evolve**_, Tenken continued. _**All Hollows will go there after a certain point, some returning to the human world for more ample hunting. The destruction of Hollows and the protection of Soul Society is the main duty of a shinigami, with Soul Society being the place where all pluses go to await their rebirth**_.

"What does this have to do with this world," Naruto asked in confusion. "You'd said before that your Soul Society was a far distant place from here…"

_**I was getting to that**_, Tenken said irritably. _**Between Soul Society, the Human world and Hueco Mundo is…a different space. It is completely chaotic and random, but sometimes new areas are formed and become stable. This is such a world. The beings that live here are not connected to other realms they way the inhabitants main three are. It was difficult for Komamura and his comrades to travel here and some were killed in the passage. What happens to the spirits here, I cannot say. You would have been able to see any pluses were they here and without pluses, Hollows cannot be created. I have wondered if the existence of the bijuu has something to do with it, but I cannot give you anything more than mere speculation**_.

"Well, it does no good to dwell on things that we can't answer," Naruto said with a shrug. "So you said that there were other shinigami who came with fuzzball and became bijuu. I wonder what happened to their zanpaktous…"

_**I am not sure**_, Tenken said slowly. _**I would assume that the bond between zanpaktou and wielder had to be broken like with Komamura in order to become a bijuu…but more than that is hard to say. Some may have been completely destroyed and some may have been sealed away like I was. If they were sealed, it would be incredibly difficult to find them. But why do you ask? It is unlikely that you will ever have to fight a bijuu as they appear only rarely**_.

"Well, I just thought if I could find them and find wielders for them, then I wouldn't be so alone," Naruto said softly. "I know I'm never really alone as long as I have you, but I'd like some friends that were like me. Shinobi friends are good and all, but there's still a big gap where they can't understand me or what I can do."

_**The desire for companionship is understandable**_, Tenken said, _**but unlikely to ever happen. You should concentrate on befriending those around you. That girl Tenten would be a good start, since you need a training partner who understands how to use weapons. And someone who cannot read your intentions through the soul link as I do**_.

"I don't know," Naruto said softly. "She seemed nice and all, but I've been fooled before, you know. I tried making friends at the Academy, but the other kids parents always kept them away from me. Shikamaru, Chouji and Kiba were the only one that I ever managed to hang out with and even then it's not like we're best friends or anything."

_**Don't let yourself get discouraged**_, Tenken urged. _**This girl has taken the first step and I think it would be foolish of you to ignore it just because your are afraid of the possible result. Yes, it may turn out badly, but it also may turn out well. Without risk, life becomes dull and stagnant. I'm not telling you to sweep her off her feet and marry her, but at least accept the hand of friendship she's proffered**_.

Naruto didn't reply, but Tenken could sense the direction of his wielder's thoughts and retreated.

* * *

Tenten sighed as she polished another set of kunai before packing them away and replacing them on the shelf. It was a mindless chore to her now, since she'd spent almost her entire life inside the weapons shop that her parents ran. Her parents had taken advantage of the chaos in the aftermath of the Kyuubi's attack twelve years ago to move into Konoha and set up a forge and weapon shop while real estate was still fairly cheap. She'd been determined to become a shinobi from a young age and grew up learning how to use and care for all the varied weapons that the shop produced.

Unfortunately, being a ninja was not all that she had hoped for. She'd been disgusted by most of the girls in the class, since most of them were completely obsessed with their looks or the boys around them. They completely ignored most of what the Academy was trying to teach them, failing to realize that these skills would be what could meant he difference between life and death on a mission. The kunoichi had to admit that she'd found herself slightly infatuated with Neji before they'd graduated and become teammates, but that crush had died a hard death against the walls of his indifference. This had allowed her to look at the rookies with an experienced eye when she saw the girls fluttering after Uchiha Sasuke.

_Why is it always the dark, brooding ones that pull us in_, Tenten wondered absently as she counted the kunai sets on the shelf. Well, at least Neji was a skilled fighter, even if he was a social eunuch. Lee wasn't much better, since he felt he had to push himself past his limits time and again in order to prove that he'd really earned the right to become a ninja.

The door chime rang, breaking the brunette from her introspection and she turned to see the blonde genin that she'd fought the day before standing in the doorway. He had an awkward smile and was scratching the back of his head nervously as he looked at her. "Can I help you with something," she asked politely.

"Ano, I was kind of wondering if that offer to train some with you was still open," the blonde, Naruto if she remembered correctly, replied sheepishly. "A friend recently pointed out that I needed to learn how to fight someone other than him and that you'd be a good choice since you're aiming to be a weapons specialist."

"Well," Tenten said hesitantly, a little surprised that the blonde had actually managed to find her home. "I guess so. Lee and Neji are primarily hand to hand fighters and Gai-sensei is good with the nunchucks, but none of them is exactly good for sparring with me."

"I can see that," Naruto replied. "I have the same problem since Ino and Shikamaru are primarily users of their family's hijutsu. Oh, they have some taijutsu and weapons skills, but they really don't stack up against what I've been learning when training with my zanpaktou."

"That's an odd name for a type of sword," Tenten said, her brow furrowed in thought as she moved closer to Naruto to examine his blade. The blonde sensed her intention and drew the blade for her to examine. "It looks like an ordinary katana to me."

"It has some special qualities," Naruto replied with a secretive smile. "So, what do you say? I usually finish training with my team around five. We could meet for dinner and train afterwards?"

Tenten blinked in surprise at the wording of his offer and wondered if her realized that he sounded like he was asking her out on a date. A quick glance at his face proved the lack of an ulterior motive, so she smiled and said, "Sure, that'd be great."


	7. Chapter 7

"So I heard your tem managed to beat Gai's," Yuuhi Kurenai said as she took a sip of the hot sake from the saucer she held. The raven-haired beauty was sitting with several other jounin in a seedy bar that they regularly gathered in to let their hair down and unwind. Her question was directed at Sarutobi Asuma, who was the leader of one of the other rookie teams this year and someone that she had long felt a definite attraction to. Around the table were Gekkou Hayate, Uzuki Yuugao, Shiranui Genma and Mitarashi Anko.

"Oh, someone finally showed up Gai's assault squad," Genma asked interestedly, downing a huge gulp of sake from the glass in front of him on the table.

"Well, sort of," Asuma admitted sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head in embarrassment. "My team is built a little more for infiltration and espionage, but I've been working on their combat strength to balance them out. Unfortunately there was no good information on how they'd fare against other genin, since Shikamaru usually wasn't willing to fight hard I the Academy and Naruto had been holding back a lot for the last few years. So I asked Gai if he'd mind having his students spar with mine."

"I'll bet he just loved that," Hayate said with a smile before he broke into a hacking cough. Yuugao rubbed a hand on his back as he hacked and wheezed. Giving support, but not treating him as an invalid like many did.

"You all know Gai," Asuma groaned. "He started going on about youth and probably would have talked my ear off if I hadn't managed to distract him with some story about Kakashi doing something. I forget what I told him, but I was desperate by that point."

"So how did your brats do," Anko asked crudely. It was not widely known to anyone but Kurenai, who found herself in the awkward situation of being the psychotic woman's best friend, but Anko had been on a protective detail watching the Uzumaki boy off and on over the last couple of years.

"Not bad," Asuma said, taking a long drag from his cigarette. "The kids couldn't outfight them as they were and knew it, so they outsmarted them. Shikamaru is one scary tactician when given any time at all and Ino has proven to be fairly good with thrown weapons, but Naruto is the real fighting power on the team. You'd love him Hayate, since he uses a sword most of the time. A real special blade too, although it's not my place to give away the boy's secrets. He's developed some real skill with it, an improved variant of the shunshin and an odd if very flexible set of jutsu unlike anything I've ever seen."

"You're bullshiting us, aren't you, Asuma," Genma scoffed. "There's no way the kid could do something like that unless he was a certifiable genius on the level of Kakashi, or…"

"Or he's had someone training him intensively for years," Asuma finished. "Which is what happened." Anko twitched in her seat but didn't say anything as she attacked a skewer of dango with an unusual amount of viciousness even for her. "They moved to attack and swapped opponents immediately. Shikamaru used one of those advanced shadow jutsu that you always hear the Nara tell stories about to force Lee to move where he wanted, while Naruto rushed the Hyuuga. Ino rushed the kunoichi to keep her out of the way, then used her family jutsu to posses the mini-Gai. When Lee was out of the fight, Shikamaru sent his used his shadows to move under the Hyuuga while Naruto moved against the girl.

"I really doubt that Shikamaru could have caught the Hyuuga before he was exhausted, but Naruto suddenly disengaged from the girl and used some kind of jutsu to make ropes rise from the ground and wrap themselves around the boy. I don't know how he missed it since the Hyuuga are all so damned cocky about how much their eyes can pick up. Once he was down, the other two ganged up on Tenten and Naruto can be damned scary to fight if you don't have any backup."

"How good is he," Hayate asked curiously.

"His forms still pretty sloppy, but he can put a lot of power into his blows," Asuma replied proudly. "But it's his speed that is really his strong point."

"Oh," Yuugao asked, speaking for the first time that evening, her eyebrow arched questioningly.

"You all know that the shunshin is pretty much worthless in combat, right," Asuma asked as everyone shook their heads. "It takes too long to get moving and your path is glaringly obvious by the chakra motion. Even a non-Hyuuga can sense it if they try. Naruto's developed something he calls shunpo. He literally disappears between steps and reappears somewhere else on the battlefield. He says that he just elongates the step he makes, pumping energy into his body to make the transition, but I've never been able to track his movement by the chakra and the Hyuuga wasn't able to either."

"Damn, that would be awesome," Anko grinned. "A move like shunshin that you can use in combat? No one's been able to do anything like that since Yondaime's Hiraishin no jutsu. I wonder if he could teach one of us to do it?"

"I don't know," Genma frowned. "He is likely going to want to keep any special moves like that to himself, given his lack of family techniques."

Kurenai noticed that Asuma's face had closed up at the question and wondered if he knew something extra he wasn't sharing, then berated herself. Of course he wouldn't just give away information on one of his student's abilities. That would break the trust between them and probably destroy any chance the team had to work together. That was something she had to deal with on a daily basis as all three of her own genin can from clans with hijutus and teaching them to work together without divulging secrets was definitely a trying experience.

"Actually, Hayate-san," Asuma said, interrupting Genma and Anko's argument, "I was wondering if you might be willing to work with Naruto a little. You're the best swordsman in the village and while I don't expect you to teach him your style, I would appreciate it if you could go over the basics with him."

"I'll think about it," the thin, sickly looking man allowed. "I've never really been interested in teaching, but I'll at least consider it."

"That's all I can ask," Asuma said with a grin that gave Kurenai a warm jolt in her stomach. "Now, who wants more sake?"

* * *

Naruto winced as Tenten slipped a section of the staff inside his guard. It hurt, but he grinned like a madman as the two battled their way across the training ground that was already littered with the weapons the kunoichi had discarded over the course of their spar. He hadn't had this much fun in a long time and the blonde guessed that Tenten felt the same way that he did by the matching grin on her face.

"Ready to give up," he asked cheerfully, dodging a particularly nasty blow that would have split his skull had it connected.

"Not on your life," Tenten replied, leaping back and whipping a handful of shuriken from one of her pouches and loosing them in a smooth motion. It would have been easy to just dodge them, but she had taught him not to when the wire she connected to them wrapped around him in her first victory.

"So what do you do for fun," Naruto asked, starting to breathe a little heavily as the battle continued. "Besides fighting with charming men like myself that is."

"Well," Tenten panted, her exhaustion beginning to show. "I sometimes get to use my parents forge to work on my own weapons and I really enjoy going to the movies every so often."

"Chick flicks or action movies," the blonde asked, noting his opponent's state and bit back a curse as she pulled a kusairgami from a scroll.

"Action films are okay," Tenten shrugged, "but a good mystery is fun every now and then and I really love horror movies."

"Brrr, not me," Naruto shivered as he parried the sickle and tried not to get tangled in the chain as she swept it at his legs. "The scary stories freak me out. I like good old fashioned action movies. I heard that they were filming a new seven warriors movie the other day and I can't wait. Even if it is just a movie, it's still a lot of fun to watch."

"I think I need a break," Tenten wheezed as she fell back from the force of the blonde's parry and landed on her rear. "I knew you were strong, but even Lee would be exhausted by now and you're barely breathing hard."

"Heh," Naruto smirked as he sat down next to the girl and laid his sword across his lap. "That's cause I have a disgusting amount of stamina. You shouldn't feel too bad about that, since my stamina is because I can use all of my chakra for physical enhancement instead of jutsu."

"Are you saying that thing you did to Neji wasn't a jutsu," Tenten demanded.

"Yep," Naruto beamed innocently. "It's called kidou and it just uses spiritual energy, which I have an excess of. My shunpo works the same way."

"Do you think you could teach me how to do that shunpo thing," Tenten asked nonchalantly, but holding her breath as she waited for an answer.

"I don't think so," Naruto replied, his brow furrowed in thought. "I can do that stuff because I had my spiritual energy awakened into reiatsu by Tenken. You just have spiritual energy that's being used in the chakra conversion process and the leftovers that you don't have stamina to match. It might be possible if we could find another zanpaktou or could find a monster that puts out enough spiritual pressure. It's too bad there's no Hollows here, though, since encountering one could wake up your spiritual abilities…"

_**Do not even joke about that**_, Tenken said sternly. _**These people have no real protection from Hollows and would be devoured to a man**_.

Naruto winced at the vehemence of Tenken's admonishment, causing his training partner to look at him curiously. "Sorry," he said quickly, "I just remembered why that would be a really bad idea."

"So I'm pretty much stuck with normal skills and jutsu," Tenten summed up philosophically. "Don't worry too much about it, Naruto. I get by just fine with my weapons."

"Still," Naruto frowned, "You should probably ask your sensei to get you some chakra building exercises and learn a few support ninjutsu or even genjutsu. Your teammates are pure taijutsu specialists, which means that you will need to be able to give them more than kunai and shuriken as support fire eventually."

"I suppose so," Tenten sighed. "That was why I was kind of hoping to learn your stuff. Gai-sensei may now a few ninjutsu, but they'd probably be useless to me without a long term chakra building regimen. I really doubt he knows anything about genjutsu."

"Well, from what I remember them talking about genjutsu ion the Academy," Naruto said, "most genjutsu is developed by individual users, not taught. That's why they teach the basics in class. If you study the scrolls available at the genin library, you can probably start making your own. Hell, I'll be your test subject if you want since detecting and breaking genjutsu is one of my weakest areas."

"You might just regret that," the kunoichi said with a grin that made the blonde feel more than a little nervous.

* * *

Asuma fidgeted as he stood outside the Hokage's office. He didn't get called here very often and was more than happy to avoid it whenever possible. It wasn't that he didn't care for his father; they just had too many areas where they disagreed. That had been one of the things that had driven him to leave Konoha all those years ago and join the Twelve Guardians in protecting the Daimyo.

"Hokage-sama will see you now, Asuma-san," Kaneko, the Hokage's secretary said, letting the bearded jounin sigh in relief that the irritating wait was over. He opened the door and looked in on the old man, noting that his father was really showing his age these days. It started a slow burn that no decent candidate for Hokage had come forward in the last twelve years, forcing the Sandaime to stay in office when he was well past the time when he should have retired. By all rights, the old man should be at home watching his grandchildren play and sit smoking his pipe as he watched the sunset.

"Come in and close the door," the old man ordered. Asuma swung the door closed and moved forward to stand in front of the desk, trying to relax and not feel like an anxious ninja called in front of the Hokage for the first time.

"You wanted to see me," Asuma prompted when his father continued to shuffle through papers.

"Do you think your team can handle an upper C-Rank mission," the Hokage asked bluntly.

Asuma blinked in surprise as his jaw dropped and the cigarette in his mouth fell to the floor. He stamped out the butt as he regained control of himself enough to ask, "What brought this on?"

"It's complicated," the old man sighed. "Kakashi's team took on their first C-Rank escort mission a week ago and things started going wrong from there. Yesterday I received a message from him along with a pair of nukenin who had attacked them. Team Seven chose to continue the mission to Nami no Kuni, but Kakashi did express a reservation that there might be more attacks coming."

"Who were the nukenin," Asuma asked.

"The Onikyoudai," Sandaime replied. "I've looked up the information we have on them and they were known associates of Momoichi Zabuza, an A-Rank nukenin from Kirigakure. This could spell some serious trouble since Kakashi indicated that the head of the Gatou Shipping Company seems to be behind the attacks."

"And you're thinking about sending Team Ten," Asuma concluded. "Why us? Surely a team of chuunin could handle this better than a team of genin."

"Unfortunately, that's where one of our current problems arises," the old man sighed. "Most of the jounin are out on missions and the chuunin that haven't been assigned out are currently working on preparation for the upcoming chuunin exam. Gai's team is already out on a C-Rank and Kurenai doesn't feel her team is ready to handle this. That leaves you and your team."

Asuma scratched his head as he rolled the situation over in his mind. While he had a great deal of confidence in his genin and was going to request a C-Rank for them soon, were they ready for a mission like this where the likelihood of running into nukenin was high? "I think we can do it," Asuma said reluctantly. "I would have preferred they get another C-Rank under their belts before doing something like this, but there isn't a lot of choice."

"I'm relieved to hear that," Sandaime said with a smile of relief for his son. "You'll need to head out first thing in the morning and make your best speed to Nami no Kuni. I'm worried that Kakashi might have bitten off something his team can't chew, so I want you there to back him up as soon as possible." He held out a mission briefing scroll that Asuma took. The bearded jounin made a hand seal and disappeared in a swirl of leaves.

* * *

Naruto covered his mouth as he yawned broadly while walking towards the village gate. He'd been surprised when Asuma-sensei had found him at the training ground where he'd been working out and told him to prepare for an extended mission outside of the village. The blonde had been so excited that he'd barely been able to sleep that night and had woken up more tired than he would have preferred for what was sure to be a long day of travel.

Shikamaru was leaning against the wall by the gate, asleep while vertical, and Ino was pacing nearby while Asuma-sensei watched amusedly. Naruto waved absently to his team as he joined them, snickering as Ino gave Shikamaru a light punch in the short ribs. The kunoichi had a scary smile as she watched the boy wheeze from the wind being driven out of him.

"All right, that's enough fooling around," Asuma said before Shikamaru got enough breath back to complain. "We've got a lot of hard running ahead of us today, so save your energy for that."

"Ne, Asuma-sensei," Naruto asked, "what exactly is out mission? You just told me to pack for a long trip and that it was supposed to be a C-Rank mission."

"That's right," Ino nodded. "We could use a few more details, you know."

"Fine," Asuma sighed. "We're heading to Nami no Kuni to back up Team Seven. Apparently they ran into some nukenin on their way to Nami, but decided to continue the escort anyway. When Hokage-sama found out, he assigned us to go and be a backup and support team for them in case more nukenin are involved."

"We're going to help Sasuke-kun," Ino squealed, clasping her hands together under her chin as she nearly swooned.

"Oh great," Shikamaru grumbled, "We're backing up Emo the wonder boy." He shut up and backed away as Ino turned a threatening glare on him.

"Anyway, we need to get moving," Asuma intervened. "Nami no Kuni is a couple of days away, even at a hard run. Let's go."


	8. Chapter 8

Team Ten ran down the road, covering ground at a pace that only ninja could maintain for any length of time. Naruto was glad of the physical training the team had undergone, as he was sure that Shikamaru and Ino would have been left in the dust long ago. As it stood now, they were breathing hard and the blonde was sure that the group would have to stop and rest soon. It didn't bother him all that much, since they'd already covered a day and a half's travel in half a day's run.

Asuma held up a hand and the quartet slowed to a walk. He pointed over at a nice shady grove and the genin gratefully slipped into the cool darkness of the copse of trees and slumped to the ground. The jounin just chuckled and collected everyone's water bottle to refill at a nearby stream.

"My feet feel like they're going to fall off," Ino complained as she pulled off her sandals and massaged the aforementioned appendages.

"Meh, don't exaggerate," Shikamaru groused. "Just make sure to channel chakra into them as you run. That way you'll avoid having blisters. Besides, it's your fault anyway for picking those sandals for fashion rather than practicality."

"How was I supposed to know that we'd spend entire days running at full tilt," Ino shot back defensively.

"You're a ninja, it comes with the territory," Shikamaru retorted blandly. "Although you probably would have dropped out from exhaustion hours ago if it hadn't been for Asuma-sensei's training."

"Like you were any better, Mr. Troublesome," Ino continued. Naruto just leaned back against the tree he sat against and let the sweat cool on his body. The height of summer was an unpleasant time to be running full speed like they had been, but the necessity of it was hard to ignore. Team Seven was in a precarious position and there were no other teams in a position to render them assistance. While Naruto held no fondness for Uchiha Sasuke and the youthful crush he'd had on Haruno Sakura had long since died a grisly death, Inuzuka Kiba was someone that the blonde considered a friend.

"You two should save your energy," Naruto said with a wry smile. "I'm pretty sure that Asuma-sensei isn't going to let us stop for the night until it's dark out, which means several more hours of running." Ino groaned, but Shikamaru got that far off look in his eyes that meant he was thinking something over.

"Hmm, if Asuma-sensei runs us til dark that should put us near the shore," the lazy boy mused. "I wonder how we're going to get across without attracting too much attention…"

"Either Asuma-sensei or I can take care of that," Naruto answered immediately. "I know that jounin are able to travel across the water fairly easily, and I can use my shunpo to cross it without having to worry about the water as long as I can see the other side. If the channel is too far, then it might get tricky to chain them without falling in, but I'm pretty sure I can get at least one person across."

Ino turned green as she remembered the single time she'd been carried along when Naruto used his speed technique. She'd gotten violently ill, saying that she would never do so again. "In that case, you'll take Shikamaru," Ino insisted. "If you ever do that to me again without doing it to save my life, I swear I'll murder you in your sleep."

Naruto laughed as Asuma returned and handed them all their refilled water bottles and said, "All right, breaks over. We've got a lot of ground to cover before we stop for the night."

* * *

The crossing took place at night and Naruto was proven right as Asuma carried Ino across the channel and the blonde boy took a firm grip on Shikamaru and used shunpo to go as far as he could see across the channel from the highest point possible. While he'd gotten better at chaining the ability, there was still a delay that caused him to drop at least a few inches and dropping into the water would prevent him from using it again. It took three steps to cross the channel and Naruto actually landed several yards into the woods along the shore. Asuma had chosen to cross a fair distance away from the main port town of Wave where the bridge was actually going up.

"Now we just need to find where this Tazuna lives at," Asuma said as he and Ino came through the brush to join the two boys. "We'll camp here and check the town in the morning."

The three genin drew straws to determine the watch order and then bedded down for an uneventful night. Morning dawned bright and cheery, although the genin of Team Ten were still tired and sore from their long trip. It had only taken them a full day to cross the length of Hi no Kuni and their bodies were showing it. They gathered their gear and followed Asuma into the village and were appalled at what they saw. Poverty was rampant here and people begged for food openly on the street, while shops were nearly empty of merchandise. It took two hours before they could find someone willing to tell them where Tazuna lived, as many people were suspicious of them and their interest in the native bridge builder.

Tazuna's house was located outside the village and it took a little while to get there. Asuma knocked on the door and a startled young woman opened the door and looked them over cautiously.

"Who are you," the young woman asked. "I should warn you that we have ninja staying here if you're here after my father."

"Please relax, ma'am," Asuma said reassuringly. "We're looking for a team of ninja from Konoha, our comrades. They were supposed to escort Tazuna-san back here from Konoha and protect him while the bridge was built. A tall, thin jounin named Kakashi should be the team leader and he can vouch fro us if you don't believe me."

"I'm not sure," the woman said hesitantly, before her eyes lit up as she spotted someone behind them. "Oh, Sakura-chan, these people claim that they know you."

"Ino-buta," asked a familiar voice as Naruto and his teammates turned to see a dirty and sweaty Haruno Sakura standing on the path that lead into the forest. "What are you doing here?"

"Hokage-sama sent us here to save your butts, Forehead girl," Ino snarked as both Naruto and Shikamaru gave her withering stares.

"Actually, Sakura-kun," Asuma said, interrupting another angry retort from the pink haired kunoichi, "we were sent as a support team. Hokage-sama decided that a single genin team wasn't sufficient for this mission after your encounter with the Onikyoudai."

"Thank god," Sakura said in relief. "Those two were only the beginning. We had to fight an A-Ranked nukenin named Momoichi Zabuza before we got here and the fight left Kakashi-sensei completely drained."

"Damn, it's worse than I thought," Asuma cursed. He looked over at the young woman in the doorway and at Sakura and continued, "Could the two of you show my team a room while I go find Kakashi? This might be more than even our combined teams can handle." The woman nodded and Sakura led the newly arrived trio inside to show them to an empty room while Asuma ran off into the forest.

"So, how soon after we left did you leave," Sakura asked as the other genin unpacked their bedrolls. "It had to have been a while ago…"

"Actually, we left yesterday morning," Shikamaru said blandly as he dropped down on his bedroll. "We had to run at full speed all day to get here."

"But how," Sakura asked in astonishment. "There's no way you could keep up that kind of pace. Naruto maybe, since he always had more stamina, but you and Ino were never big on the physical side…"

"Let's just say that we had our physical conditioning deficiencies pointed out rather bluntly," Shikamaru drawled as he stared up at the ceiling. "Asuma-sensei has spent most of our training time since graduation on building Ino and me up to a workable level."

"It's been hell," Ino admitted, "but at least I don't have to diet to keep my figure anymore. Ooh, it's been good to be able to eat again. There're days when I feel like I could match Chouji in an eating contest."

Sakura just stared at the pair of them in disbelief before turning to Naruto, taking in the black garments. "And you, what happened to that orange eyesore you always wore," she asked, trying to reestablish herself on more familiar ground.

"Hey," Naruto protested, "orange is an awesome color! It's just that this is more practical for missions and less likely to get me killed. I'm still wearing some orange though!" He pointed to the dark orange sash he wore around his waist and up across his chest to hold his sword in place. "By the way, where's the bastard and Kiba? I'd have thought you'd have been attached to the Uchiha's hip by now."

"Don't talk about Sasuke-kun like that," Ino and Sakura yelled in a terrifying unison that made both Naruto and Shikamaru wince. "Besides," Sakura continued, "Sasuke-kun's busy training right now. Kakashi-sensei showed us a new chakra control exercise on how to climb trees without using your hands and he and Kiba are still trying to master it."

"Oh, that exercise," Naruto said, slapping his fist down into his hand. "Asuma-sensei taught us that one a while ago. Wow, you guys are only learning to do that now? What the hell has your jounin-sensei been doing since you graduated?"

Sakura's eyes lit up in anger as she began to deliver an impassioned lecture in excruciating detail on Hatake Kakashi's faults and his general lack of worth as a human being, making all three genin sigh in resignation as they realized she wouldn't be stopping any time soon.

* * *

Asuma followed the trail into the woods and was soon able to hear the sounds of two boys training and the encouraging yips of a dog. He moved through the trees to the sound and came out in a clearing where the Uchiha and Inuzuka boy were trying to climb trees without using their hands. It was probably embarrassing for the village's idol, Uchiha Sasuke, that the Inuzuka boy was much further up the tree and progressing at a steady pace. He spotted Kakashi sitting off to one side, a pair of crutches on the ground and his Icha Icha in hand as he read and kept an eye on the two boys.

A subtle flare of his chakra made the other jounin pop his nose out of his book to look over at the disturbance. The Copy Ninja's visible eye widened in surprise as he snapped his book closed and returned it to one of the pockets of his vest. Asuma walked into the clearing with a casualness that belayed his concern.

"Yo, Kakashi," Asuma said nonchalantly as he crossed over to the rock the silver haired ninja sat on and lowered himself as well.

"Asuma," Kakashi acknowledged. "What are you doing here?"

"Hokage-sama decided you need some backup," Asuma said plainly, noticing the other jounin's wince. "When ANBU retrieved the Onikyoudai, he upped the threat level on the mission and sent me and my team to help out."

"If he's that worried, I'm surprised he sent another team of genin," Kakashi said in a slightly strange tone.

"My genin are good," Asuma said proudly. "They even beat Gai's team in a fair fight, but that's not the reason we came. Honestly, Hokage-sama would have preferred to send a team of chuunin, but they're all tied up in missions or in prepping for the Chuunin Exam that's being held this summer. The Council has pressed the old man hard on this one, since it will be the first one we've held in several years."

"Hmm," Kakashi said noncommittally. "That's not the best news. We've got an A-Rank nukenin and another shinobi that I can't identify the power level of. He showed up dressed as a Kirigakure oinin and claimed the body after taking Zabuza out with senbon."

"Senbon are hardly weapons that an oinin would use," Asuma said darkly.

"I know," Kakashi admitted, "but I'd been using my Sharingan the whole fight and I was about to pass out from chakra exhaustion. When I woke up I realized that the oinin must have been an ally of Zabuza's and the hits were disabling but not lethal."

"Well, we've got two jounin and six genin now," Asuma said cheerfully, taking a cigarette out of his pocket and sticking it in his mouth before lighting it with a quick flame from his lighter. "I've pushed my team hard since they graduated and they'd responded well, so I think they should be able to handle themselves decently."

"If they managed to beat Gai's team, I'm sure they will," Kakashi said as his eye curved up in a smile. "Who do you have? I wasn't really paying attention at the assignment meeting."

"Notice my lack of surprise," Asuma deadpanned, his eye twitching a little as Kakashi just shrugged. "I've the Nara boy, the Yamanaka girl and Uzumaki."

"An interesting mix," Kakashi mused. "I'm surprised they didn't give you the Akimichi instead."

"I was originally supposed to get him," Asuma admitted. "For some reason, Hokage-sama mixed the teams just before they were assigned. I was a little leery at first at how well Uzumaki would be able to work with the other two, but he's proven himself a good and adaptable fighter and he's motivated the other two into improving themselves. Ino and Shikamaru have nearly doubled their stamina and chakra reserves since they graduated. They'll never be a powerhouse like Naruto, but they'll be more than just infiltration and intelligence specialists now."

"What about Uzumaki," Kakashi asked. "There wasn't much on him from the Academy and all that I heard there was bad. All he did was sleep in class and prank the teachers."

"It turns out that the teachers were being less than fair to him," Asuma said. "Iruka tried, but Naruto wound up learning everything he's got from another source…"

"The Kyuubi," Kakashi whispered, glancing at his students to make sure they hadn't overheard.

"Actually, no," Asuma laughed. "I've been assured that we'll never have to really worry about that problem again. Something about a secondary seal that completely prevents any access to its chakra that what the seal filters automatically. Naruto's training is a bit of a secret that I'm not at liberty to share, but he's damn good with that blade and he'd been working with Gai's student, the girl that wants to be a weapons master, almost every day to improve. He has some impressive jutsu abilities, but they're unlike anything I've ever seen and he's got a speed technique that's a lot like the shunshin, except that it's workable for a fight."

"I'm suddenly feeling more confident," Kakashi said dryly, pulling his book back out of its pocket and twitching it open with a flip. "We can discuss a rotation for training and guarding the bridge tonight. I think these two are going to keep me up late anyway."

* * *

_**Naruto, there is a familiar presence here**_, Tenken said, startling the blonde out of his sleep.

"Wha…What are you talking about," Naruto asked muzzily as he picked up the blade and left the room where Shikamaru and Ino were sleeping like logs.

_**I believe another zanpaktou may be sealed in this land, but I am not sure which one or where it would be**_, Tenken replied. _**It sleeps, but there is a faint pulse of power that resonates with my own. **_

"Well, if we move around the island, do you think you can pin down an area to look in," Naruto asked, wiping the sleep from his eyes.

_**Perhaps**_, Tenken answered. _**It would be a prudent thing to try, since the weapon would be invaluable if it will bond like we have**_.

"I don't think we'd be able to find another jinchuuriki that easily," Naruto said dryly as he crept downstairs, pausing at the door to put his sandals on.

_**One does not have to be a jinchuuriki to bond to a zanpaktou**_, Tenken replied. _**All it takes is a compatibility between the spirit and the host. Our union was not determined solely by Komamura's presence within you**_.

"Hmm, so maybe Tenten could bond with this one," Naruto asked hopefully as he slipped out the door and into the night air.

_**She would not be a bad candidate and would make an exceptional ally**_, Tenken said approvingly. _**We will know more, though, when we find the zanpaktou and can introduce them**_.

Naruto nodded to himself and took off at a run around the perimeter of the island that was the main land mass of Nami no Kuni. He used shunpo to cover large amounts of ground between stops to release pulses of reiatsu to see if Tenken could detect a resonance. They'd traveled most of the way around the island before Tenken detected a resonance.

_**There**_, Tenken said suddenly. _**The small island to the south absorbed my reiatsu**_.

Naruto nodded to himself and shunpoed across the intervening water to land on the small island. "Where do you think it will be," he asked.

_**Look for a small building or a cave**_, Tenken advised. _**It's unlikely to have been left in the open, despite its abandonment by its wielder.**_

The blonde moved through the underbrush on the island, noting that it was unusually thick. "Kinda seems like no one's come here in a long time," he mused as he pushed his way through several branches. "I wonder why no one from Nami has been over to this island? It's actually closer than most of the others in the area."

_**Likely there are stories meant to deter visitors**_, Tenken replied. _** Tales of the monstrous bijuu that the zanpaktou wielder became or even just ghost stories of people dying horribly.**_

"Wait, what's that," Naruto asked, spotting a manmade wooden wall out of the corner of his eye. He reached out and pulled clinging vines free to reveal a small wooden shrine sitting in the middle of the foliage. He wrenched open the small doors on the front after a brief struggle, since the wood had warped from being in the damp air for so long.

Inside was a rotting leather cloth with a sword showing through the holes. Naruto pulled the sword free of the cloth with a sense of accomplishment. "So whose is it?"

_**I'm not sure**_, Tenken replied. _**The spirit in the zanpaktou is still asleep and there are no distinctive features in the sealed state. We will just have to wait until it wakes**_.

"Damn, I hate waiting," Naruto frowned. "But since I'm up, I might as well get some extra training in. Let's head back though and stash this in my bags so no one else can come across it."

_**Agreed**_, Tenken said. _**You still have a lot of work to do before you can even claim to have mastered even the basic kidou that you can use**_.

"Damn, but you're a slave driver," Naruto complained as he shunpoed back to the main island.


	9. Chapter 9

"So we're going to switch off guarding the bridge with two genin and a jounin," Kakashi offered as he sat with Asuma at the table in Tazuna's kitchen. Team Ten and Sakura were still asleep in their room and Kiba and Sasuke had apparently pulled an all nighter since they'd never returned to the house.

"I honestly think we should have you stay here the whole time and rest up," Asuma rebutted. "I trust Naruto and Shikamaru to handle anything that may come up, so we can team them with Sakura and Ino while Kiba and the Uchiha finish training. To be honest, I've got a bad feeling about this and I'd really rather have you at full strength when they attack."

Kakashi was silent for a minute as he stifled his initial reaction to protest and considered Asuma's proposal. While the bearded jounin had a great deal of experience and skill, it didn't match up with the abilities that had made the masked shinobi a legend in his own time. "You're right," he sighed reluctantly. "You're still fresh and the genin should be fine to cover things until I can get fully back on my feet. We should have at least two weeks before Zabuza is recovered enough to make trouble based on the lingering damage those disabling points must have caused."

"Good, that should give your genin time to get the tree climbing exercise down," Asuma chuckled. "I wasn't planning on working my team up to water walking so soon, but that may be a very valuable skill to teach them. Do you want me to include Sakura in our lessons?"

"And Kiba and Sasuke when they're ready," Kakashi nodded. "I'm willing to bet they'll have the tree climbing down pretty soon if they're told that they're falling behind everyone else."

****

"I think that I'm starting to master this one," Naruto commented as he looked at the burning crater he'd created with a shakkahou, a fire based destructive kidou. "I didn't have to make any of the seals or use the paternoster to get this much of an effect."

_**I admit that you're doing better with it**_, Tenken commented, _**but I would be happier if you could contain the fire into a tighter ball. Your recent attempts have all been quite large. Remember, reiatsu is not like chakra in that more is always better. You have to learn how to refine the reiatsu that you have, much like distilling various alcoholic drinks to obtain a purer form of alcohol**_.

"Right, so it's back to the refinement exercises again," Naruto sighed. "How long will I have to keep doing these exercises. They're not very hard, so why will they help me focus?"

_**Again, you are comparing reiatsu and chakra**_, Tenken admonished the blonde. _**The lessons of chakra no longer apply once you've mastered them as your chakra levels are mostly determined at birth. The exercises force you to flex the energy to get the maximum amount of your power to be available. Reiatsu is a constantly growing energy. The older you grow, the more knowledge and experiences that you accumulate, the larger your reiatsu reserve will be. The Commander-general of Soul Society has been in command for more than a thousand years and his reiatsu is virtually unrivaled**_.

"So basically, the older I get, the more reiatsu develops," Naruto summed up, rolling his eyes a little at his zanpaktou's long winded explanation. That still doesn't explain why I have to keep going through all these refinement exercises."

_**Don't be a fool**_, Tenken admonished sternly. _**As your reiatsu increase, you lose the edge refinement gives you and need to do it over again. You will be doing refinement exercises for a very long time, my other half, so you'd better get used to doing them without complaint.**_

"Ugh," Naruto groaned as he thought about having to work through these exercises for the rest of his life. "And here I thought that learning kidou would be more interesting than the physical training and control exercises. How was I supposed to know that it was all part of the same thing?"

_**Hmm, I seem to remember quite a bit of excitement the first time you tried to use byakurai**_, Tenken commented innocently.

"Excitement," the blonde exclaimed loudly, a hand dropping to rub his rear. "That damned kidou set my ass on fire! And it's supposed to create lightning, not fire!"

_**That's what happens when your control isn't good enough for the kidou you're trying to use**_, Tenken said wisely, with only a hint of laughter in his voice. _**That's why I've run you through the wringer**_.

"Wringer," Naruto asked in confusion. "I didn't really think the training was that hard, just very focused."

_**That's because you didn't know about the flow inverter I set on your reiatsu**_, the zanpaktou returned smugly. _**It's been forcing you to handle more of your reiatsu at any time than you normally would have used, much like wearing weights while doing physical training.**_

"You've been doing what," Naruto exclaimed in shock. He pulled the blade from its sheath and stared at it angrily. "I thought my control just sucked and it was you fucking with it all along?"

_**You needed the boost for your training to actually make you competitive with the ninja of your village**_, Tenken explained irritably. _**Reiatsu growth is normally very slow and I've had to force your progress or leave you unable to defend yourself in this world**_.

"I guess that makes as much sense as anything in my life does," Naruto sighed as he slung the zanpaktou back into its sheath, his face scrunching up in a frown. "But I still don't like the fact that you didn't tell me though."

_**Like it or not, get back to your practice**_, Tenken said sternly. _**I want you to compress the shakkahou to the size of a soccer ball before we break for the night.**_

Naruto groaned as he lifted his arm and focused his reiatsu once more with a call of "Shakkahou!"

****

Sakura had always been at the top of the class where grades were concerned, at least for the girls. She knew that Sasuke had aced his tests all through the academy and there were rumors that Shikamaru could have taken the top grades from the Uchiha heir if he hadn't been too lazy to bother. This satisfied her ego that she was the smartest of the kunoichi graduates, but she now felt keenly the lack of emphasis on physical skills that her training had engendered.

Despite stories of Tsunade of the Sannin's ferocious strength and terrifying taijutsu, the Konoha ninja academy prepared girls primarily for work as covert operations or genjutsu specialists. There was an occasional weapons master in training like the girl that had graduated the year before, Tenten if Sakura remembered right, but the curriculum had not prepared her for the life and death situation against Zabuza. Nor had it prepared her for the jealousy she felt as she watched her old friend and rival Ino run up and down a tree to prove that she could already do it better than anyone in Team Seven.

"See, Forehead girl," Ino called down from her position high up the tree. "We mastered this weeks ago, but I guess your sensei felt that you were dragging Sasuke-kun down enough that you needed remedial lessons first." Sakura could feel her teeth grinding as she glared up at the blonde, peripherally aware that Sasuke and Kiba looked none too happy about been shown up by people they'd looked down on in the Academy.

"All right, that's enough," Asuma called out as he walked into the clearing that the genin had been doing their training in. "It was Kakashi's decision to wait to train them on this exercise, Ino, and I don't remember you fairing quite so well after such a short time either. Now get down here, so we can work out the schedule for the next few days."

Ino pouted as she hopped down from the tree using a series of nearby branches, but made no further comment. Sakura held back the comment she would have liked to make to the other girl and joined the other genin by the bearded jounin.

"Shikamaru, where's Naruto at," Asuma asked.

"Eh, you know him," the lazy boy drawled as he cleaned out an ear with his pinky and stifled a yawn. "He's off somewhere training in those destructive jutsus he uses. You know, the ones he won't let us watch him work on."

Sakura felt oddly curious as to how the class clown of their year would know any destructive jutsu, especially since he didn't come from a notable family. From the frown on Sasuke's face, she could tell he was thinking something along similar lines. Now that the pink haired girl thought about it, Naruto and the Uchiha survivor had never really gotten along before. Distracted by her thoughts, Sakura gave a startled jump when Shikamaru put his fingers to his mouth and let out a shrill, piercing whistle.

"Shikamaru," Asuma said as a pained expression crossed his face, "I know that you and Naruto worked that out as a signal, but do you have to do it so loudly?"

The lethargic genin shrugged and replied, "If I don't make it loud enough, he might not hear it. Besides knowing him, Naruto's probably on the other side of the island.."

"You called," Naruto asked from behind Sakura, causing her to let out a squeak of surprise and jump a little at his sudden appearance. She hadn't even noticed his approach.

"I need to go over our schedule for the next few days," Asuma said, chuckling slightly at Sakura's reaction. "Sasuke, Kiba, you two are going to keep working here until you've gotten the tree climbing exercise down. Sakura, you'll be working with my team on learning the next control exercise and be rotating for guard duty at the bridge with either Naruto or Shikamaru."

"Why does the dobe get to advance," Sasuke demanded as he scowled at the jounin. "I'm much more skilled than that idiot could ever be…"

"Naruto mastered the tree climbing exercise in a day," Asuma said bluntly. "Shikamaru mastered it in three and both of them have proven themselves to be reliable in my estimation. You have yet to prove that you're anything to me, except for being a loud mouth who cannot take orders. Not a good combination for a ninja."

"Asuma-sensei, aren't you being a little hard on Sasuke-kun," Ino demanded. "He was the top of our graduating class after all…"

"Individual ability is not nearly so important in a genin, Ino, as the ability to work with others and take orders," Asuma replied calmly. "He may have excellent abilities, but his poor attitude and disregard for others could easily lead to the death of his teammates and the failure of the mission. Now, you two get back to your trees. The rest of you follow me and we'll get started on your new exercise. Tazuna said that he was going to start back at the bridge tomorrow, so whoever does best on the new exercise will be his guards for the day."

****

Naruto sighed as he looked out across the partially built bridge. While the structure was an impressive feat of engineering, especially for a country as poor as Nami no Kuni, guarding the architect and foreman in charge of its construction had proved a rather tedious endeavor. Three days ago, he'd been shown the water waling exercise and had picked it up as natural as breathing. Compared to the reiatsu control exercises Tenken had him practicing, that had been nothing and he'd wound up on bridge detail with Ino the next day. Today, at least, he was here with Sakura which made for a nice change of pace from the bossy complaining that Ino would go into when she got bored.

"So, Naruto," Sakura asked hesitantly, "You picked up on that exercise pretty quickly. It kind of surprised me, since you never had good chakra control at the Academy."

"My control is something I work a great deal on," Naruto replied absently. "It's easier for people like you, who have smaller amounts of energy to channel."

"What do you mean by that," Sakura asked coldly, irritation warring with curiosity in her voice.

"Look," Naruto sighed, turning to face the pink-haired kunoichi, "control exercise are like taking a stream and forcing it through a series of cataracts until a small amount is capable of creating a great deal of force." Sakura nodded that she had grasped the analogy and her irritation started to fade. "You, Ino, Shikamaru…like most ninja, you have a fairly small stream or river to contend with and as it grows over time you can maintain that control. For me, it's like taking a huge waterfall and trying to channel a thin stream of water from it. While it is possible, it takes considerably more work."

"So why do you have such a large body of water," Sakura asked.

"Don't know," Naruto shrugged, "but that's why I always did so poorly in class. Especially with the bunshin. The amount of chakra in a bunshin is too small for me to channel right now and when you overload a jutsu like that, it tends to come out looking pretty pathetic."

"How would it affect a combat jutsu," Sakura inquired, her curiosity piqued.

"Depends," Naruto replied, turning away to scan the area around the bridge again. "Most combat jutsu are fairly chakra intensive, so increasing the amount of energy increases the size of the effect. Put enough oomph into it, though, and it can blow up in your face."

"Shikamaru said something about your learning some destructive jutsu," Sakura asked carefully, knowing that most ninja were fairly secretive about their techniques.

"Yeah, I've got a few that I've been working on," Naruto admitted, "They're not terribly hard, but it's a lot of work getting them as precise as I would like them to be. Despite some of the stories we heard at the academy, ninja should really avoid big flashy explosions and attacks that destroy an area. We're better served with justu that can be used like a scalpel to strike at a vulnerability. Besides, big flashy jutsu are wasteful and will exhaust you pretty quick. Isn't that what happened with your sensei? From what I heard, he and the nuke-nin were tossing around some big area effect jutsu and he's only know starting to recover from chakra exhaustion."

"That's true," Sakura mused. "Kakashi-sensei used quite a few jutsu and uncovered his Sharingan eye, during that fight. When he collapsed, he'd said he used too much chakra."

"Part of that's the eye's fault," Naruto explained. "I don't think they covered this in the Academy, but we trained with a group of genin from last year's class and there was a Hyuuga on their team. Stuck up bastard, but I noticed he didn't always have the byakugan on all of the time like you'd thing someone with a dojutsu would. So I asked Tenten, who I've been training with on the side about it. She told me that dojutsu have a pretty high energy demand and it can kill them if they're dumb enough to try and use it all of the time. I would imagine that it's worse for Kakashi, since the eye was obviously a transplant and his body doesn't have the built in failsafes that an Uchiha would."

"How do you know it was a transplant," Sakura asked.

"His name is Hatake, not Uchiha," Naruto replied, giving her a look that questioned the kunoichi's intelligence. "The Hatake's have their own family jutsu and no relation to the Uchiha at all. Many other villages covet the dojutsu Konoha have and would love to have an eye to implant in order to gain an advantage."

"Oh," Sakura said in a small voice. "I think Tazuna-san is calling it a day."

Naruto looked over to where several of the workers were putting tools up and nodded. "I think you're right," he said. "That's a good thing, since I was starting to get hungry."

"You've always been a bottomless stomach," Sakura teased.

"And what, exactly, would you know about that," Naruto asked coldly, giving the pink-haired girl a cold glare that she didn't understand. He shook his head, as if clearing it before continuing, "Never mind, let's just get the old coot back to his home."

Sakura stared after the blonde, wondering what had set him off after they'd been having such a pleasant and informative conversation. It had been a wonderful change from the way he'd used to fawn over her all of the time…Sakura paused as she realized that for the past few months, the blond had been avoiding her It should have relieved her, but somehow all she could feel was an inexplicable sense of loss.

****

"So what exactly is it that you want me to learn that required me releasing your shikai," Naruto asked the large blade he now held in both of his hands.

_**All Zanpaktou have attacks unique to them**_, Tenken replied. _**It's a combination of the nature of the blade and the wielder, which means that yours will be different than Komamura's was. Your shikai is definitely different, although I believe your bankai will be similar once you finally unlock it.**_

"That's great and all, but what does it mean," Naruto asked in frustration.

_**Focus your reiatsu into the blade and let it build**_, Tenken instructed. Naruto set his feet and held the blade out in front of him and began to let his spiritual energy flow into the blade. It was an odd sensation to the blonde as he felt the reiatsu twist out of shape from pure energy and overflow into a wind that swirled around the zanpaktou. _**Now swing and release the energy from the edge. **_

Naruto gritted his teeth and swung the blade, crying out, "Ha!" as the world seemed to explode around him.

AN:

Wow, it's been a long time since I managed get anything together enough to post. Sorry about the lengths of the delay, but I hope you'll continue to enjoy the story. Next up, I'm going to try and get the next chapter of Kamikaze not Naruto to cooperate.


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